Divided Paths: Factor of X
by Mugen no Ken
Summary: [Tamers][Savers][Book 1, Ch. 4] Everything's changed. But for better or worse? A group of warriors and something called the X Antibody are about to shift the playing field even more...
1. Chosen Destiny

**_DISCLAIMER:_ "Digimon Tamers" is the property of Bandai, Toei Animation, and Akiyoshi Hongo. Original characters are the creations of either Megaraptor or myself.**

**_NOTES:_ This series is a sequel to "Divided Pathways: Breakdown." It is recommended that one-shot is read first, as it lays the groundwork for what follows here. It can be found on my author page anywhere you're going to find this fic. Also note, the rating is subject to change. It all depends on how everything pans out.**

* * *

Before **it** happened, there was seldom a night where the young girl had slept peacefully.

_Since_ that incident however, since that terrible day when everything changed, things had been different. She found that all she wanted to do was to ignore the world outside, to keep from waking up into the reality she had been forced into. Even in those dreams where she saw and felt things she wanted to forever shut away, it somehow seemed preferable to what awaited her in the real world. She welcomed the chance to ignore the waking world, to escape what she lost.

It had been ten months since that day. Since her parents were killed, and the world was struck by a tremendous attack.

Ten months since the day Lee Shuichon started wishing she could escape the destiny she herself had chosen...

* * *

**Digimon Tamers: Divided Paths  
_Factor of X_  
File 1.01 - "Chosen Destiny"  
Written by Infinity Blade**

* * *

**October, 2007 - Japan**

Twenty year-old Lee Jaarin sighed as the elevator came to a stop. Looking down at her business suit, she smoothed out her skirt in an attempt to look as presentable as possible. Despite how connected her family was to this place in the past, it somehow seemed so foreign now. She was there with good reason, however, and she needed to make the best impression possible.

As the elevator doors slid open, Jaarin stepped out and found herself immediately greeted by the presence of a familiar face. He was a young man, roughly around her age, with spiky brown hair, and was leaning against the hallway wall. He had on a dark blue suit that was worn in a decidedly sloppy and unprofessional manner. He wore no tie, his jacket was unbuttoned, and hadn't even bothered to tuck his shirt in.

Yawning, the young man looked up from his foam cup of coffee, and turned his head in her direction. He then grinned, giving her a small wave. "Yo! You're Jen's big sis, right?"

Jaarin blinked. This guy's appearance made her obsession over how she looked that day to be somewhat ironic. Laughing nervously, she nodded. "Yes, I am," she said. Though she recognized his face, she was having a slightly hard time remembering his name. "You're... Akiyama Ryou-kun, right?"

"Last I checked," he said, pushing away from the wall. He let out another yawn, causing him to rub the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry. Still not used to these early mornings on top of the late nights... I think all the time I've spent in the Real World's made me soft."

Jaarin just sort of stared at him for a moment, while she let those comments sink in. She had heard her brother Jenrya talk about all the things this boy had done. They had seemed so fantastic and unbelievable, and yet, here he was, standing before her like a normal person. Of course, her own brother and sister had their own fantastic stories, but even then, Jaarin found herself a bit awed when she saw those same things in all the other Tamers.

"But hey, you didn't come here to hear me complain," Ryou said, leading her down the hallway. "We're busy tracking something right now, but Yamaki's been wanting to see you." He glanced back at her as they walked. "So, why did you decide to do all of this? Join Hypnos and everything, I mean?"

She frowned and looked away from him, her eyes finding the ground. "Isn't that sort of a stupid question?"

He sighed. "Yeah, guess it is... sorry. What I mean to say is... that is, I don't mean to pry, but... well, why now?"

Jaarin looked back up, and her lips curled into a sad smile.

"Growing up in my house, learning your way around computers and technology was something that just... sort of happened," she began. "Not that we're all naturally gifted with them, but with everything that Dad did, you just got very comfortable with them. And now, I look around and see you guys, my little brother, and even younger kids who aren't as experienced as you guys all risking their lives... After what happened with my parents, and with everything else that's happening in the world, I just can't stand aside and do nothing. Not when I know there are things I _can_ do!" Her smile turned sheepish. "It might sound stupid, but I guess you could say it's in my blood."

Ryou blinked, and then smiled back at her.

"Hey, after everything that I've seen," Ryou said, "_nothing_ sounds stupid anymore." Jaarin's expression brightened, just as they finally reached the end of the hallway, putting them before a large, steel door. Before she could reply, Ryou walked up to a security panel. Laying his hand on it, he spoke clearly, "Battle Commander Akiyama Ryou. One guest, with temporary Level-C security clearance. Requesting entrance."

"VOICE RECOGNITION CONFIRMED," a mechanical voice came from an overhead speaker. "FINGERPRINT RECOGNITION CONFIRMED. WELCOME TO NEO HYPNOS, BATTLE COMMANDER AKIYAMA."

As the door opened, Ryou quickly escorted the young woman inside. They were greeted with another long stretch of hallway lit by bright lights above.

"Hypnos as it used to be had been compromised way too many times since D-Reaper in 2001," Ryou began, explaining as they walked. "However, due to what Yamaki called a 'grievous lack of funding,' it basically had to run as it was for a long time. After GranKuwagamon's attack ten months ago, however, the higher-ups were convinced that a change was needed. So, Hypnos was moved to a new, hidden location.

"That explains the blindfold they had me where when I was being brought here," Jaarin added, a touch bitterly.

Ryou let out a nervous laugh. "Hey, you know how security procedures are, right? I mean, it's not like we don't trust you or anything. It's just that Yamaki would have ALL our asses if anything classified slipped out, so we have to apply the same standards to you that we do everything else."

Jaarin frowned. "Yeah, yeah. I suppose."

The two finally entered a small, circular room. It was rather empty, having only yet another large door, and a desk. Paperwork was piled high on that desk, and seemed to be the only thing there until a small young woman's head peaked around it. "Oh! Commander Akiyama!" she beamed brightly, with a voice so high pitched it sent a shiver straight up Jaarin's spine. "Operations Coordinator Yamaki just came in and is waiting for you!"

"Uh, thanks Nozomi," Ryou muttered lightly, briefly acknowledging her with a wave as they walked past.

"She seems... cheery," Jaarin said under her breath, leaning towards Ryou and saying it quietly so only he could hear. "Disturbingly so."

"You don't know the half of it," Ryou groaned, leading Jaarin over to the door. On the panel next to it, she watched as he punched in a password. He _then_ took out a security card with his ID and slid it.

Jaarin stared. That was about the fourth thing they had to go through, after the two hallways and the last security panel. And what's more, they weren't even _inside_ yet. "Just how much security does this place _have_ anyway?"

"More than you probably want to know," Ryou said as the door finally slid open, giving way into the main chamber.

Over the years, due to her siblings being Tamers and her father working as part of its staff, Jaarin had seen the old Hypnos several times. It was originally housed in a rather dark, dimly lit chamber, with the only source of light being computer monitors and the network monitoring system built into the ceiling. Thus, her first impression of Neo Hypnos' operating center was that it was very... bright.

Bright light illuminated the entire chamber, revealing clean, sterilized white walls and devices. It was elliptical, like the old Hypnos, and the systems were obviously based on the previous ones, though it had definitely taken some significant leaps in technology. Dozens of computer terminals lined the walls, each one state of the art. Wrapping all around the upper wall and ceiling was the massive tracking system, which was currently processing so much information, Jaarin couldn't even begin to figure out what it all might mean.

In the middle was a large platform that allowed one to look over the entire room. There was a number of computer terminals set up there, and in addition to the stairs leading up to it, there was another set that led down, seemingly leading to another chamber below. Ryou led Jaarin up the first set of stairs, where a red-haired woman was busy observing the work that was being done.

Ryou coughed lightly, announcing their presence. The woman wheeled around, and smiled. "Oh, Ryou! And this must be our newest staff member."

Ryou grinned. "Sure is," he said. "Jaarin, I'd like you to meet Operations Coordinator Yamaki Reika."

"'Reika' will be fine," the redhead replied, as Jaarin bowed. "I know you were scheduled to meet with our administrator, but Mitsuo's currently occupied with some work that just came up."

"N-no problem, ma'am," Jaarin murmured, a sheepish look on her face. "I just hope that I really can help here."

Reika patted Jaarin on the shoulder, and then started to lead her off the platform. "Well, lets go and talk about that, then. Think you can handle things here for a few minutes, Ryou?"

The Tamer gave a slight shrug, then turned around to look at the monitors. "You mean, yell for you if something happens? Sure, I can do that."

Reika laughed slightly. "Something like that."

* * *

Every time Lee Shuichon woke up, she was instantly struck with one thought...

Everything was wrong.

The bed was wrong; it wasn't the one she had slept in since she was a little girl. The smell was wrong; it was too new, too unfamiliar. The look was simply wrong; it didn't have her room's colors, or any of her old toys.

It wasn't the home she had grown up in. No, this was her brother Rinchei's apartment. A place he had managed to acquire, with some definite outside help, to house what was left of their family, plus two digimon. This was where the sons and daughters of Lee Janyuu and Mayumi had been living since the incident that had claimed their parents' lives.

A distinct feeling always came over Shuichon once she was awake and alert enough to know it wasn't some bad dream. She wanted to cry. For many days and weeks after her parents had been killed, she had done just that. It got to a point, slowly but surely, where she realized that no amount of tears would bring her mother and father back.

She knew, of course, that she wasn't the only one who lost loved ones on that day. The amount dead at the hands of both GranKuwagamon and the bombings was still being debated and tallied.

That's all they were to anyone else, though. Numbers. Statistics. To the people that knew Janyuu and Mayumi, to the people that loved them, there was a gaping hole left that would never be filled.

Shuichon knew that she had a power that few in the world did. She knew that if she ever discovered the party responsible for her parents' deaths, killing them would be as easy for her as swatting a fly.

There were, indeed, days where she couldn't help but dwell on that fact... After all, how dare another living creature live, laugh, and enjoy life when they had so unjustly snatched it away from someone else? Even if it were humans responsible, she could do the same. After all, she had already brought an end to the lives of several digimon in her lifetime. Why would a human be any different?

It was there, typically, that her darker train of thoughts would stop. She had been raised better than that, she knew. How would her parents react if they were alive and knew that their youngest child could possibly harbor such thoughts?

Throughout everything, though, Shuichon knew that this life - the power and responsibilities of a Tamer - was something she herself had chosen. By wanting so earnestly to follow her brother's footsteps into the Digital World, and by truly wishing a connection to be forged with the Deva Antiramon... Becoming what she had was her choice.

Of course, unlike most of the other Tamers who came to be in that year, she was only _seven._ She couldn't have possibly comprehended what having that power would bring upon her. How it would undoubtedly change her over the course of the years. Seeing so much death, destruction, and fighting since she was that young would change almost anyone.

It only took a _day_ after she became a Tamer to see Leomon effectively murdered before her eyes. To see Juri practically go mad with grief. To see Takato's anger explode to the point where he nearly became what he was fighting.

So now, Shuichon was thirteen years old. She had long since gained a greater comprehension of the gravity of her responsibility. Ever since the loss of her parents, however... she couldn't bring herself to face up to that any longer. No one tried to force her, either. Despite it all, no matter how much she wished to just leave the life of a Tamer behind... she couldn't. Even if she didn't participate in any battles, there were still things that would keep lingering with her. Things that would probably be with her forever...

"Good morning, Shuichon."

The girl tilted her head to see Lopmon standing on the table next to her bed. Even after everything, after how she had treated him before, the little digimon still remained her loyal companion. It made her feel somewhat guilty, but she figured that was something she deserved...

"M-morning," she muttered groggily, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. "What time is it?"

"Roughly an hour and a half before you need to be at school," Lopmon replied, and then smiled slightly. "Jenrya's preparing breakfast, if you want it."

"Thanks Lopmon," Shuichon said, smiling back. "I'll be right there after I get dressed."

Nodding slightly, Lopmon leapt off the table and hurried out the door. Sitting next to where he had been was Shuichon's D-Ark, and the girl quickly averted her eyes from it. She would gladly remain Lopmon's Tamer, but she didn't see any need for her to use _that_ thing anymore. For everyone's sake, that was for the best...

* * *

"...I think it was awhile before the GranKuwagamon attack," Reika said as she led Jaarin on a tour of Neo Hypnos. "Even before then, Mitsuo realized the system that we had was broken."

They were currently heading down a hallway, towards the older woman's office. Away from the operations chamber, everything looked rather ordinary. It was just like any typical office working environment, aside from the underlying fact that their job helped decide the fate of the world.

"They had long since taken large portions of our funding away," Reika continued, "and yet still expected us to continue dealing with the rising threat of Wild Ones. The politicians wanted so desperately to turn a blind eye to the fact that things weren't improving, and were instead steadily becoming worse and worse. We couldn't officially employ the help of the likes of your brother and sister, either."

Jaarin nodded, knowing full well that despite that, it hadn't stopped her younger siblings from getting involved. For so long she had just sat there, watching them, thinking there wasn't much she _could_ do...

Soon enough, they reached Reika's office, and the redheaded woman let Jaarin in. The room was neat and tidy, with dozens of shelves packed full of countless folders and files. "Despite Hypnos dealing with digital threats," Reika said as the two women took seats at a table across from one another, "we have to make sure to keep most of our records on paper, too. Our greatest strength, our network, is also our greatest weakness, as I'm sure you know."

Again, the younger woman nodded. There was no need to explain _that_, given that she fully knew _where_ D-Reaper leaked into the Real World from all those years ago.

"Anyway," Reika said, "continuing from what I was saying before... All that has changed, now. We're not an organization smiled upon in the public. Even now, people lobby against us, thinking our methods insane. Thinking that we're recklessly endangering children... but you and I both know things they don't. We both know that people like Jen-kun and his friends are going to act whether we help them or not. Hypnos still focuses on what it did back when Wild Ones first started to appear... we want to protect innocent people from dangers they can't hope to fight. Only now, we have a much clearer idea of just how to do that.

"On top of all that," she went on, "there's the fact that new Tamers sprout up constantly across not only Japan, but the world. Though there's certainly something special about the first Tamers, at the same time, what they _are_ is becoming less and less unique. They were the start of something that has yet to cease occurring. And we don't expect all these children to act in the same way as your brother and his friends. We don't expect all of them to try and risk their lives for the sake of everyone and everything... if anything, there's enough of them now that most don't _have_ to. But they still need protection. From not just the Digital World, but from this one, people who would let their prejudices lash out at these innocent children."

Reika took a breath, and then smiled. "Of course, I know that you know about a lot of these things, Jaarin. I'm just saying all this to paint a picture... To let you know what all we have riding on Neo Hypnos. We not only have to protect our city, our country, and our _world_, but also those innocent children that are caught up in these battles and politics for no reason other than making friends with a digimon. All of these things are heavy burdens, and you have to make certain that you're willing to dedicate yourself one hundred percent to everything involved in this organization."

Jaarin looked down, sighing lightly. "When I had Jenrya come to all of you with what I wanted, I had already made my decision. I want to help this world. I want to..." She blinked hard for a moment, finding her vision slightly blurred from tears. She shook her head, tried to blink those tears out of her eyes again, and looked Reika in the eyes. "I want to, in a sense, pick up from where my father left off. I don't have his brain. I don't have his research or intricate knowledge of digimon and their creation... But I want to continue, in spirit, what he did. That spirit of trying to help everyone in this world. That same spirit Jenrya's been living by since he was _ten._ And of course, I know that Shuichon doesn't want any part of this anymore... That's something I can't blame her for. No rational person really should _want_ any part of this. I feel, though, that I _need_ to be part of this."

"I think," Reika replied, "that you'll have the capabilities to do many great things here." She stood up, extending one hand. "Let me be the first to welcome you as an agent of Neo Hypnos, Lee Jaarin."

Jaarin bolted up out of her seat clumsily, but took Reika's hand and shook it all the same. "Thank you so much, Reika-san. I promise you, I won't let you down!"

Reika smiled again. "You're your father's daughter, Jaarin. I don't think that's possible."

* * *

Shuichon gave a wistful sigh, pushing her glasses up on her nose as she neared her school. This was certainly a place she didn't enjoy going. Not simply for the reasons _most_ teenagers disliked going to their designated institute for learning. For the young Tamer, it was something much different.

Upon entering the school yard of her Junior High, as she did every morning that she needed to, Shuichon was instantly met with a few distinct reactions. The fact that she was a Digimon Tamer was something that, without even ever having a chance to hide it, was very much common knowledge. To say she was one of the most well known people in school would be an understatement. This, naturally, was not necessarily a _good thing._ One of the first reactions, and the most common, were people who would actively try to put as much distance between them and her as possible. Many people feared digimon, this was a fact, and many of those people also feared Tamers in turn. These same people would often place the blame of digimon-related travesties on Tamers themselves, even when there was nothing that they could actually _do_ about them.

Then, there was...

"Shuichon-chan!"

...the fans. Or, as the case was, _fan._

She looked further up ahead to see a blonde girl running up who, like Shuichon, had a pair of glasses planted squarely on her face. Unlike Shuichon's, however, the lenses were decidedly thicker, and the frames looked as if they had been through hell. In fact, Shuichon was sure those glasses constantly looked worse and worse as time went on, despite never seeing this girl without them.

"Hello, Miyamoto," Shuichon said in a deadpan voice, lacking any sense of meaning or purpose. This Miyamoto Akiko wasn't a _bad_ person by any stretch of the imagination. She was just considerably obsessed with all things related to technology. Which thus led to a vested interest in digimon. And thanks to being one of the most well known Tamers in the world, and the sister of another one, led to a great interest in _her._

"HI!" Akiko greeted cheerfully once she reached the other girl. "How's it going?"

"It's cold," Shuichon muttered, starting to walk past the other girl. "And before you ask, no, I did not bring Lopmon."

Akiko pouted, folding her hands behind her back and turning to follow Shuichon. "I wasn't _going_ to ask."

Shuichon frowned, eyeing the blonde suspiciously. "Then what _is_ today's question?"

Akiko's cheeks went slightly red, and she laughed nervously. "What makes you think I was going to ask you a question, silly? I just figured you might want some company on the way to class!"

Shuichon blinked, looking back at the girl. "Really?"

"Really!" Akiko replied, and then looked at the ground a bit. "Though... I was wondering if later on you could look at a diagram I compiled based on all recent digimon Realization points, Tamer battles, and evolution activations that have occurred in the past two weeks... You see-"

Shuichon's shoulders slumped as she gave a slight groan. "For the love of..."

Akiko blinked a bit, obviously oblivious to what was annoying the other girl. "What? Was it something I said?"

Shuichon stopped in her stride, spun around, and gave the blonde girl a stern look. "How many times have I said I don't want anything to do with that kind of stuff anymore? I have Lopmon, my brother has Terriermon, and that's it. I'm not interested in realizations, battles, evolution, or anything of the sort!"

The blonde girl's eyes went wide, and she took a step back. "I- I'm sorry. I just... I mean, you're..."

"I'm what?" Shuichon asked, crossing her arms.

Akiko frowned, bowing her head. "You... your brother... all of the original Tamers. You're all heroes. I thought that, if anyone would..." She sighed, shook her head, and looked back up, giving the most horribly forced smile ever. "I- I'm sorry, Shuichon-chan. I'll see you in class..."

With that, Akiko walked off, looking as if someone had just run over her puppy or something. As such, Shuichon felt rather distinctly like she should be kicking herself. _Just because you feel the need to be mad at everything,_ she scolded herself inwardly, _doesn't mean you have to treat everyone else like crap, you idiot._ So, there were the people that feared her. There was the fangirl. And then, as Shuichon's thoughts got the better of her, and she had the rising urge to go and apologize to the girl...

"Geez, Lee. Think you could be a little meaner?"

...there were the others.

Turning around, Shuichon instantly recognized the voice as belonging the black-haired boy that she now found herself facing. To either side of him was a brown-haired girl, and a blond boy. The girl instantly elbowed the black-haired boy in the side.

"That wasn't exactly very nice, either," the girl - who Shuichon knew was named Iimuro Sada - scolded him as he held his side.

"Ouch," the black-haired boy, Hirai Takao, groaned, and then glanced at her, "neither was _that!_"

The blond boy, Inafune Genki, grinned nervously at the display of the other two, and then glanced at Shuichon. "Hey, are you doing alright today? I mean, I know that Akiko-chan can get a little overbearing at times, but..."

The last thing that Shuichon really needed on that day was to look like a total ass in front of anyone she would be in class with. Unfortunately, she had succeeded in doing just that. And as these three saw her, it became very apparent that they weren't the only ones, as several others were staring at her. More so than usual, anyway.

Shuichon groaned, burying her face into her hands. At least the day couldn't get much worse than it already was. "Listen," she muttered, not even bothering to look at anyone. "I'll apologize to her later. Just... leave me alone, alright?"

Then, she turned away from Takao, Sada, and Genki, and tried her best to ignore everyone else as she made her way into the school building. The day wasn't going to be a good one, and she got the feeling that if she paid attention to everyone's reactions, it was going to be considerably worse...

* * *

The day continued and classes passed, otherwise without incident. Shuichon did her best, sitting in the back of her class, to ignore the stares from her classmates. Particularly those who she had actually talked to that morning. Namely, Takao and Akiko, both of whom she had the 'privilege' of sharing a classroom with. Not that it was so bad normally, but on that day, it was proving to be nothing but a distraction. Both in thinking about the things she had said, and what she had been told.

She wasn't a bad person, was she? She had the right to not be very _happy_ with things in her life, did she not? They might think they understood what she had been through, but they didn't. Not _really._ Not even her fellow Tamers - not even her _brother_ - truly understood everything...

Still, time marched on. Before Shuichon knew it, class was over, and her classmates wasted little time in lingering, as most who could bolted out the doors as soon as humanly possible. Except, naturally, Takao and Akiko, the latter of whom was always slow to get out anyway. The former, however, caused Shuichon to give an annoyed frown. What did he expect to do? Sit there and force her to apologize?

Sighing, Shuichon finally rose up and walked over towards Akiko's desk, where the girl was still getting her stuff gathered up.

The fact that things would always linger over from her younger years was a fact she needed to resign herself to, Shuichon supposed. She would always be looked at as a Tamer, and it wasn't something she denied. Everything she had seen, and everything she had done, would stay with her for the rest of her life...

And as she neared Akiko, one of those lingering aspects of her battles as a Tamer struck her like a bolt of lightning. Just as it had when GranKuwagamon appeared, and just as it had done many times before and since then, she felt a tremendous jolt of pain run through her body. The girl doubled over and dropped the ground as she screamed, clutching her head.

Akiko and Takao both bolted out of their seats, rushing over to her. Akiko dropped down next to her, confusion written on her face.

"Just prop her head up!" Takao said once he got over to them. "Just let her breathe."

Akiko blinked in confusion, but did as she was told, pulling Shuichon over a bit and resting the girl's head on her lap. "Takao-kun," Akiko said, glancing at the black-haired boy as he knelt down, "I didn't think you two were very good friends..."

He gave a slightly bitter laugh. "Oh, trust me, we're not. I just know more about her than she'd like."

"What's going on over here?" a deep voice asked, and they looked up to see one of their teachers, Kamiyama, standing over them.

Shuichon could see all of this happening, but couldn't say anything. Her body just felt so tensed up... so frozen... more so than when this had ever happened before... But she knew what it meant... She knew _exactly_ what it meant...

"She'll be fine, Sensei," Takao said. "Just, uh, don't move her. Or else you might make her brother mad. Trust me. You don't want to see her brother mad."

"N-near," Shuichon finally gasped out. "It's... nearby."

"Gotcha," Takao said, rising up and pulling out a cell phone. "I've just got to make a c-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, the entire building shook from the ground up, and the lights started to flicker on and off.

"Told you so," Shuichon murmured.

"Greeaat," Takao groaned before dashing out the door as fast as he could.

Akiko scratched her head a bit, and then glanced down at the girl in her lap. "Does he know what he's doing?"

"Probably not," Shuichon said, and would have laughed if she could. "Not that little things like that stop people..." She was glad the pain had subsided enough that she could talk now, at least.

Soon enough, the teacher left to fetch a nurse, and Akiko frowned. "Shuichon-chan... how did this happen to you, exactly?"

Shuichon averted her eyes from Akiko's gaze. "That's... kind of personal. Sorry... and, sorry again, for this morning... I was out of line..."

Akiko's frown flipped to a smile. "It's alright, Shuichon-chan! Everyone has bad days, right?"

The girl was certainly right on that account, Shuichon knew. However, Tamers' bad days tended to be worse than others'...

* * *

Living in Shinjuku seemed to deem in recent years that, if you were going to attempt doing this, being able to flee for your life, and do a good job of it, was a requirement. A few residents were quickly reminded of this as they ran, screaming at the tops of their lungs, while everything around them shook and a large beast stepped out of a sudden patch of fog.

The being was like a humanoid bull. A minotaur. Or, to be more precise, Minotaurumon. The digimon grunted, eyeing the fleeing humans with as much contempt as he could muster. They were _nothing_ compared to him. He could mash them like little gnats if he so much as chose. In fact, he realized, that sounded like a pretty good idea! Raising his one mechanical hand, which acted as a pile driver, he sent it crashing towards the street. "DARKSIDE QUAKE!"

He never had the chance to fully pull this off, however, as there was the sound of a large gun being fired. Something hit his pile driver, throwing his arm back and making him stumble a bit. Growling, he looked around wildly for the culprit, and quickly found it.

Standing up the street next to a blond boy was a... pirate. A pirate with an unusually large hook in place of his right hand, and holding a gun in his left. "BULLSEYE!" the pirate cackled wildly, pumping his gun into the air. "See that, Genki? He didn't even know what hit him!"

"Easy, Hookmon," the boy said calmly. "I think it's safe to say he _sees_ us now."

Minotaurumon's anger began to rise. How _dare_ some filthy human's pet attack him like that? Roaring wildly, the digimon began to rush his knew opponent... only to be quickly met with something else. Unexpectedly, another digimon dropped down from above. It was a humanoid, dinosaur-like digimon wielding a gigantic sword. Not caring about being stopped, even for an instant, Minotaurumon roared and punched out with his pile driver. The sword-wielder blocked the blow, but was sent skidding all the way back to where Hookmon and his Tamer were before dropping to his knees.

"Dinohumon!" a young female human cried as she ran up to him.

"Sada-dono!" Dinohumon shouted at her, picking himself back up and hefting the large sword into the air again. "Stay back!"

Snarling, Minotaurumon stared at the gathering. How many interferences was he going to get here?

"Comin' through!"

The cry came as if in answer to the large digimon's question, as something suddenly dashed past him, striking him in the side. The unexpected blow made him fall over with a loud thud, cracking the asphalt beneath him. When he got up, he found the source as a large, blue, bear digimon. Which, of course, had a human riding on it. That made Minotaurumon absolutely _sick._

"Nice shot, Grizzmon!" the boy exclaimed, giving the bear a playful hit on the head.

"HOW MANY OF YOU FREAKS ARE THERE?" the large digimon finally exclaimed.

Grizzmon grinned. "Aww. I think we made him mad, Takao."

Takao snickered as he slid off Grizzmon's back, allowing the bear to stand up on his hind legs. "Well, ain't that just a shame?"

"So, Takao," the girl said as the digimon took up positions in front of their Tamers. "What did Commander Akiyama say when you called him, anyway?"

"Oh, that we should sit tight and wait for back-up," Takao said, causing the other two humans to slap their foreheads. The black-haired boy just smirked and waved a hand dismissively. "Relax! I've seen this guy in my little brother's cards. He's just an Adult-level! We can take him easy."

Genki gave an audible groan. The other two humans looked as the blond boy was going over some display coming out of the device he was holding. "Yeah, uh. _Slight_ problem with that, Takao."

"That being?" Takao asked, still smirking.

"This Minotaurumon's a Perfect-level digimon," Genki said simply.

Takao's smirk vanished, and his face went a little pale. "Y- you mean... we just pissed off an Perfect-level?"

Genki nodded solemnly. "Yes. _Yes we did._"

Grizzmon slapped his face with both front paws, groaned, and then spun around baring his fangs. "TAKAO!"

Takao laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "Uh, heh, err... sorry?"

Minotaurumon's anger quickly became amusement, and he laughed. These kids may have been Digimon Tamers, but they weren't _them._ They weren't those who stood as legends in the Digital World.

No. These kids? They were going to be nothing more than a warm-up.

**-To Be Continued**

* * *

**_NOTES:_ Well, took me long enough to get this series running. As I've said before, if you've not read "Breakdown" this whole thing may not make sense. I just hope I put things across well enough here. I'm very glad I'm doing Divided Paths like this, as certain things, such as Shuichon's characterization, need more room to be fleshed out. So hopefully I'll be able to provide that in time and make everything make sense.**

**So, what else do we have here? For anyone worried that this series is going to be completely focused on original characters, don't be. I wouldn't be using them if I didn't have all the canon guys filling roles in this universe, and I need more than the Tamers that we have to paint the picture of what this world has become. The specifics of all that will continue to be elaborated on throughout this series.**

**Trust me, all the characters you know and love have VERY big parts to play. They're definitely the stars of this. Everything you see here is just scraping the surface of what's going on in this world, and everyone involved in this chapter is only a fraction of it all...**

**However, credit must be given where credit is due. Takao, Sada, and Genki are the creations of my friend Megaraptor. They were originally created for a series he's been planning out for some time, and when discussing things, we found they could also fit very well into this world-setting. So thanks to him for giving me something else to work with. And also for looking over this chapter and helping with editing duties.**

* * *

**NEXT**  
**Digimon Tamers: Divided Pathways  
Factor of X: File 1.02 - "The Hazard's Reflection"**


	2. The Hazard's Reflection

**_DISCLAIMER:_ "Digimon Tamers" is the property of Bandai, Toei Animation, and Akiyoshi Hongo. Original characters are the creations of either Megaraptor or myself.**

**_Notes:_ Please ignore the chapter summary for this one from the last part. It more or less wound up not applying as much as I thought it would after all this time. Although I don't plan on another seven month gap between chapters, I don't want to fall into that trap again. Thus, in the future, I'm simply going to be giving away the titles for the next chapter, nothing else.**

**_Edit, 8/19/06:_ Made a correction with Takato's D-Ark color. Could have sworn I fixed that in revisions before I posted, but it slipped by.**

* * *

**Digimon Tamers: Divided Paths  
_Factor of X_  
File 1.02 - "The Hazard's Reflection"  
Written by Infinity Blade**

* * *

"I can't believe this!" the Digimon Tamer named Sada exclaimed, waving a finger in fellow Tamer Takao's face. "First, you have to go and act how you did to Shuichon-chan-"

"Well, she was being an ass!"

"It takes one to know one!"

"Oh, right. You know, we're out of elementary school-"

"And secondly, you..."

"_Guys!_" Inafune Genki's voice suddenly cut in.

The bickering duo turned their attentions forward, and Takao gave a sheepish laugh. "Oh. Heh. Right," Takao muttered before his Partner Digimon, Grizzmon, went flying over their heads thanks to a punch from their opponent, Minotaurumon. Whose presence, it would happen, had just taught Takao a valuable lesson about Digimon levels and actually paying attention to his D-Ark's analyzer screen.

"Grizzmon!" Takao shouted as the large bear landed in a heap behind them. "Are you alright?"

It took a moment, but Grizzmon groaned as he got back on his feet. "I swear," the Adult-level Digimon grumbled, staring at Takao, "if you weren't my Tamer... I would so completely step on you right now! I just got sent flying by a Perfect... oh, YEAH. I'M FINE!"

"I'm getting the distinct feeling everyone's out to get me today," Takao muttered beneath his breath.

Sada and Genki's partners, meanwhile, were taking a more defensive stance as Minotaurumon seemed to be contemplating his next move. "Well, not like there's much choice," Genki sighed, reaching in his pocket and retrieving a card. "Hookmon! CARD SLASH! POWER CHARGER!"

"Alrighty, horn-head! Suck on this!" Hookmon said, leveling his gun in Minotaurumon's direction. "CAPTAIN CANNON!"

A cannonball-sized projectile shot forth, tearing across the air for its target. Minotaurumon grunted, punching out at it with his normal fist. "DEMON ARM!" the beast howled, his entire arm becoming engulfed in black energy. His fist collided right with the cannonball, instantly making it blow apart into bits of data.

"I..." Hookmon started, blinking while looking down at his firearm. "I think I need a bigger gun..."

Sada grit her teeth. "This is stupid. We can't fight something like this."

"It is true we are outmatched here, Sada-dono," Dinohumon said. "Unfortunately, now that we've engaged him, a Digimon like this wouldn't let us merely escape. We shouldn't be here, but must push on, for the moment..."

Grizzmon stepped up next to the other two Adults, snorting. "Lets see him hit _you_ and have you say that again, buddy."

Dinohumon pulled the giant blade off of his back and hefted it up. Without a word, he dashed towards the angered Perfect. "AKINAKESU!" the warrior cried, bringing the massive saber down at his opponent. Minotaurumon easily blocked the blow with his pile driver and wasn't even pushed back by it.

"You don't honestly think," Minotaurumon grunted, "that this is good enough, do you?"

"No, this is not," Dinohumon said calmly, still pushing against him. "Sada-dono!"

"Ri-right!" the girl said, pulling a card out. "Card Slash! ALIAS!"

A thin smile formed on Dinohumon's lips, before another shout came behind Minotaurumon. "LIZARD DANCE!" Before Minotaurumon could react, _another_ Dinohumon leapt at him from behind, brandishing his smaller blades, which he promptly drove into the Perfect's back. Then, the Dinohumon seemingly attacking Minotaurumon from the front vanished, as if he was never there.

Takao blinked for a second. "What... was that, exactly?"

Sada smacked her forehead. "Don't tell me you haven't bothered to learn these cards yet..."

Takao gave a half-hearted shrug, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Hey, the card game stuff was always my little brother Shoji's thing. I just..."

"Don't have the patience?" Sada asked, a teasing tone in her voice.

Before Takao could retort, Genki cut in. "Alias creates a temporary clone that takes the place of your partner, while your partner himself is transported a short distance away. Dinohumon distracting him with a frontal attack like that was pretty much the only way to get a clean shot from behind-"

"Which means," Takao said, watching as Minotaurumon tried in vain to reach Dinohumon behind him, "he's wide open now! Grizzmon!"

"Right!" Grizzmon shouted, slashing forward with one of his claws and unleashing a curved blade of energy. "CRESCENT DAWN!"

Growling, Minotaurumon suddenly spun around, tossing Dinohumon off of him with his momentum... and right into Grizzmon's attack. Dinohumon screamed as he was blasted back, colliding with the side of a building. The impact was so fierce that the wall actually cracked, rubble tumbling down around Dinohumon as he slumped down to the ground. His body glowed brightly, until he shrunk down into the form of a little warrior in kendo gear.

"KOTEMON!" Sada screamed.

"N-no..." Takao stammered.

"...well, at least _I_ didn't do it," Hookmon muttered with an inappropriate amount of pride.

Minotaurumon roared, his anger obviously past its boiling point. He began to rush towards the group as the Adult Digimon braced themselves, knowing there was little they could do to stop his approach.

"That's quite far enough!" a voice suddenly proclaimed from the air, followed by a shout of, "DESTRUCTION GRENADE!"

There was the sound of whistles, and two small missiles flew down from above, hitting the ground before Minotaurumon's feet and exploding. The Perfect-level stumbled back, looking up... just in time for a giant, red dragon to drop down right in front of him. One of the spikes on the dragon's arms snapped out, electricity surging from it.

"PLASMA BLADE!" the dragon cried, slashing down at Minotaurumon. He tried to block with his pile driver, like he did with Dinohumon, but this resulted in the dragon cutting straight through his arm. It dropped to the ground, exploding into data, while his stump of an arm started to fragment.

A bronze-colored, boxy looking robot then flew down between them, slamming his body into Minotaurumon. He was knocked back, far away from everyone else, and the robot quickly took back to the sky, just as the dragon unleashed a torrent of flames from his mouth. "EXHAUST FLAME!"

Minotaurumon barely had enough time to look up. The flames struck him, and their sheer force plowed right through his body. Within seconds, there was nothing left but data floating in the air.

"Well, that was sure as hell close," a voice muttered from behind them.

Though Sada rushed over to her partner's side, Takao and Genki looked back to find two older teens walking towards them. One, the one who had just spoken, had spiky brown hair and carried a silver & bronze D-Ark. The other also had brown hair, had a gold & silver D-Ark, and atop his head wore a pair of yellow goggles. Which really, stood out as sort of odd on a High Schooler.

Both wore uniforms. The one with the gold D-Ark had a red shirt and pants, with a white & blue colored jacket and boots. The other Tamer had a similar uniform, but with his colors matched more to the robot Digimon that had just appeared.

"Hirokazu-san, Takato-san," Genki said. "Thank goodness... we were almost goners there."

"Well, yeah," Hirokazu said. "Considering that you guys shouldn't have even _been_ here in the first place."

"Hey, that thing was about to hurt innocent people!" Takao exclaimed.

Takato sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "That's true, but Ryou told you to stay behind for a reason. Neo Hypnos knew it was a Perfect. That's not a problem for us, but it's still dangerous for you guys to tackle something that strong..."

"Weren't you all taking on even worse when you were _younger_ than us?" Takao asked, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, but we also did a lot of stupid things, _and_ we didn't have the back-up you kids have," Hirokazu said.

"Fine, then if I have to be stupid to get anywhere-" Takao began, but was quickly cut off.

"Do you really want to finish that sentence?" Sada asked. Takao turned to see her standing next to Kotemon, who was using his wooden sword to hold himself up.

"_Funny,_" Takato grumbled. "...you okay, Kotemon?"

The little warrior nodded. "I shall be fine."

"Regardless," Takato said. "Neo Hypnos has its command structure for a reason. You guys are still undergoing training, and, uh..."

Hirokazu gave a grin which seemed sort of... sadistic to the younger Tamers. "You're going to have to answer to your drill sergeant."

The faces of Takao, Sada, and Genki went instantly pale. "I think I'd rather fight the Minotaurumon again," Takao muttered beneath his breath.

"So, uh, Hirokazu," Takato said, turning to him and grinning sheepishly. "Could you possibly wrap things up here?"

Hirokazu raised an eyebrow. "And this would be because..."

"Because, well," Takato began, pausing a bit and scratching his head nervously. "I'm gonna wind up being late to meet Juri... again."

Hirokazu sighed to himself, but nodded anyway. "Alright, sure. But if I've got deal with the authorities..."

"Growmon can take the kids back to Hypnos," Takato said.

"Hey," Takao frowned. "We're perfectly capable..."

Hirokazu waved a finger. "Uh-uh. If you guys can't listen to orders, then Growmon's gonna be the teacher leading you to the principal's office."

"Okay then!" Growmon suddenly shouted happily, pumping one massive claw into the air. "Lets get going!"

"This would be slightly less embarrassing," Sada said, "if he were as mean as he looked..."

Grizzmon groaned loudly, hanging his head. "I've really got to stop listening to you, Takao..."

* * *

Shuichon sat on the edge of a bed in the nurse's office. She was feeling fine now that the stabbing pain in her head was gone, but the teachers still insisted on waiting for one of her siblings to come pick her up. Thus, she just sat there, staring aimlessly at the nearest wall, which really was barren of anything noteworthy.

The battle was over. She hadn't seen a bit of it, yet knew it had ended with the invading Digimon's destruction. She knew this simply because that pain _was_ gone. Whether Takao and the others had ended it, or if someone else had arrived, she didn't knew... She was just thankful it was over.

Thankful though she may have been, though, it didn't change the constant sense of frustration inside her. This was the right thing for her to be doing, right? She didn't have any obligation to be out there battling Wild Ones, or the occasional maniacal evil Digimon with delusions of world domination. She became a Tamer because she wanted to follow after her brother, and she wanted to be Lopmon's friend. That was it.

There was nothing in that which said she needed to be out there fighting... killing... watching others die... right?

Certainly, she had a great amount of power at her disposal... more than anyone outside the first generation of Tamers. But it wasn't like there weren't others...

And it wasn't like she could claim she had _control_ over that power, after everything that had happened in the past...

"Sis?"

Shuichon jolted out of her trance, her vision darting to the doorway. Standing there was her older brother, Jenrya. "You alright?"

There was definite concern on his face. As there should be, given that he already had to know why she collapsed. "I- I'm fine, Jen-niichan," Shuichon said, trying her best to force a smile and failing utterly.

Jenrya sighed, walking over to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's getting worse, isn't it?"

Shuichon frowned, looking away from him. "It just... caught me off guard. There's no sense worrying about it."

"How can you expect me not to?" Jenrya asked. "If these flashes of pain are getting worse, then we're going to HAVE to worry about it. Or else-"

"You know just as well as I do, Niichan," Shuichon said, pushing his hand away. "When it first happened, right after that battle, the tests they ran... what Mizuno-san said... there's no way to separate it. I just have to deal with it."

"Shuichon-" he began, but she cut him off again.

"Can we just go?" she asked. "I'm getting tired of sitting around in here..."

There really wasn't much else that could be said, so he relented. Neither said anything as they walked out of the school. Not out of anger or any sort of annoyance with each other. It was just an uncomfortable, but long-since typical silence that had lied between them. It bothered her. She knew it bothered him. Yet, somehow, it had been there ever since that one battle...

She truly didn't want to seem angry, but it couldn't be helped... Containing everything flowing through her mind, every feeling, every desire caused by the 'incident' following the first creation of Cherubimon was a full-time job...

* * *

Takato cursed under his breath as he checked his watch while running through the crowded streets of Shinjuku. He hated to be late, but there wasn't exactly much that could be done to avoid it.

One of the slight advantages he had being officially employed by the government was that when there _was_ an attack, he basically had a free pass out of school. The downside of that meant that pass always involved a battle of some sort. Yet, it was something he didn't mind so much these days.

That was because of how powerful a combination he and Guilmon had proven to be. Really, there hadn't been a single battle since GranKuwagamon that had been a challenge for them. That was neither a complaint nor him being egotistical. It was just the truth.

The formation of Neo Hypnos had made things so much easier, as well. Now with them on call as they were, any of the Tamers that chose to fight could be to the area of battle, often before the attacking digimon had even fully Realized. It was more efficient. It kept people safe. In the end, that was what most important. To both Takato and all those Yamaki had chosen to be apart of the new organization.

Though there was still a great deal of trepidation amongst the public in regards to having 'children' fight against these monsters, the Tamers also knew it was the safest way. The JSDF had tried it their way for years and failed. So despite the protests of some, their actions were taking great leaps in securing more public trust in the Tamers, and even reducing fear of their digimon. Even if it was only a little bit, that bit helped.

The uniforms they had been saddled with while on-duty were part of that 'gaining public trust' thing, too. Though some amongst the Tamers had complained, it made some amount of sense for the public to know who its defenders were. One particular Tamer had said it, "made them look ridiculous, like multi-colored knock-offs of a Super Sentai." Takato could only grin at that. If anything, that just made him _like_ the uniforms even more.

It was also great for parting a crowd when he was trying to get somewhere fast. As he just so happened to be right then.

He had agreed to meet Juri shortly after he got out of school that day. That, obviously, wasn't going to work out. Such things were actually becoming something of a recurring problem...

Juri didn't go to the same school as Takato, or any of the Tamers. Takato would be lying if he said his work with Neo Hypnos hadn't been hurting his grades. Not involved in the daily rigors of policing invasion from another world, Juri had gotten into a better High School than the rest of her friends. As such, she didn't get to see them nearly as much. Combined with her increasingly spending extra time to help her father's business, and all of Takato's duties...

It made things... difficult, to say the least.

Finally, he reached his destination: the park. Knowing that he could at least say he got there, he finally took a moment to catch his breath, leaning against a tree.

"Only half-an-hour late today, hm?"

Takato jumped, clutching his chest and spinning around to find Juri, still in her school uniform, stepping out from behind the same tree. "Sorry, I, uh," he stammered, grinning sheepishly. "Something came up."

Her eyes went up and down the length of his body, taking note of the uniform. "So I see."

Takato blinked, looked down at himself, and then laughed. "Oh, yeah, well, you see..." he looked back up, quickly adding, "I can go change real quick."

Juri just smiled. Though somehow, it seemed odd. Something about the look in her face and her eyes just didn't seem... right. "It's alright," she said softly. "So, what do you want to do?"

"Well, I am kind of hungry," he said. "I mean, if you don't mind."

She just shook her head as they started to walk. "No, that's fine..."

Takato looked down, again noticing her eyes. They seemed somehow distant, as if she was preoccupied somehow. "Juri? Is everything alright?"

The girl blinked a couple of times before glancing back up at him, smiling. "Don't be silly. Why would anything be wrong?"

Takato didn't really say anything, just turning his attention back to the path they were walking on. It must've just been his imagination. Though, he couldn't help but always second-guess himself when it came to Juri, even after all this time...

* * *

In the past, Takao wouldn't have thought it possible to fear for his life simply from someone looking at him. That was before the first time he had made Makino Ruki angry. Unfortunately for him, this wasn't the first time. And he still hadn't gotten used to it.

He sat in a cramped room with Grizzmon's Child-level, Bearmon, Sada, Kotemon, Genki, and Hookmon's lower form, a small, green monkey named Koemon. The latter of which was rocking back in forth in his chair impatiently. Across from them stood Ruki, her long red hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a dark blue uniform, with her partner Renamon by her side.

"So," the redhead began casually, "just what on either world were you _thinking?_ Or were you thinking at all?" All eyes - Bearmon included - turned to Takao. "Gee. I thought partners were supposed to be loyal," Takao muttered beneath his breath.

"_You_ didn't get clobbered by him," Bearmon hissed.

"Hirai?" Ruki asked, eyeing the black-haired boy. "Anything to say?"

Takao clenched his fists. "It's just like I told Takato-san and Hirokazu-san. That Wild One was going to hurt innocent people. If we hadn't done anything-"

"Nothing would have happened," Ruki said.

"But the time between when we got there and Growmon and Guardromon-!"

"They were already there," Renamon stated, drawing blank looks from all six of them.

"...you mean we got steamrolled by that punk for nothing?" Bearmon exclaimed.

"Pardon me, Makino-san," Genki said, "but if they were already nearby, why didn't they do anything before?"

Ruki smirked. "Simple. To teach you a lesson."

"But one of us could have been hurt!" Sada said.

"Takato, Guilmon, Hirokazu, and Guardromon are all good enough at what they do to not allow that," Renamon said. "You were dealing with a low-powered Perfect, and _could_ have very well disposed of him... yet, the fact that you weren't experienced enough to do so is why you were told to stay behind."

Ruki turned her gaze back to Takao. "Now, the only one of you who talked to Battle Commander Akiyama was you, correct?"

"Yes," Takao said, a low growl in his voice.

"And did you tell the others that you had direct orders to stay behind?"

"No," he muttered lowly.

"And I bet you thought he was an Adult-level."

"YES!" Takao suddenly shouted. "I did! Give me a break, already!"

Ruki sighed, putting a hand to her forehead. "Alright, the rest of you can go."

"Alright!" Bearmon cheered as Sada, Kotemon, Genki, and Koemon started to get up. Or, in Koemon's case, bound across the room for the door in a split second.

"Not you," Ruki said before Bearmon had even left his seat. "Partners stick together. You sit."

Bearmon's face went blank, but he then snarled and sat back down, muttering things under his breath that were best not heard out loud.

"Listen," Ruki said, crossing her arms. "I understand that you weren't exactly accepting of this whole Tamer thing at first. And we're not forcing you to fight."

"But I want to," Takao said. "So if you're suggesting I just drop out..."

Ruki waved a hand. "No, no." She paused, sighing again. "Okay, so I haven't quite gotten this whole constructive criticism thing down yet. Just, understand this... No matter how much potential you might have, if you can't work together with your friends and those that have the same goals you do, you're not going to get far. Believe me, I learned that the hard way a long time ago."

Renamon suddenly smiled, which Takao found excessively... odd. "And the same goes for you, Bearmon."

"But I didn't do nothin'," the other digimon grunted.

Renamon shrugged a bit. "You'll figure out what I mean eventually, maybe, if you want to."

"Alright, that's enough," Ruki said. "You both are free to go. Just, next time, actually _listen_ to us when we tell you something."

Takao frowned, nodding a bit. "Yeah... sorry."

With that, he and Bearmon headed quietly out of the room. That silence stuck with them for a few moments, neither wanting to really say anything... at least, until he rounded the next corner in the hallway.

Leaning there up against the wall was another teenager. He wore a black uniform, and had black hair which was grown out a bit, hanging down past his ears. Clipped to his belt was a black & silver D-Ark, and standing next to him was a golden dragon digimon wearing black armor. "I swear, Hirai," the older boy said with a smirk, only glancing at Takao slightly. "If they keep hanging around you, you're going to get Sada-chan and Genki-kun killed at this rate."

Takao grit his teeth. Sahashi Shinichi, and his partner, Ryuudamon. The boy went to the same school to him, and was his senior by one year. He had also been a Digimon Tamer for awhile before Takao.

"Sahashi," Takao growled. "Yeah, those are big words for someone who didn't even come help us."

"That's because I actually called Akiyama myself," Shinichi said. "And, you know, _listened_ to him. How was I supposed to know you'd drag the others with you? You should just be glad Takato-san and Hirokazu-san were there."

"Hey, don't be too hard on him, Shin," Ryuudamon said, smiling. "I mean, look what he has to work with."

Bearmon twitched and stepped forward. "Big words, coming from a bull-headed _X._"

Ryuudamon stared at him for a moment, and then bared his fangs, snarling. "Why you-!"

"That's enough, Ryuudamon," Shinichi said, pushing off the wall and holding a hand out in front of his partner. "There's no point in going that far."

"Oh, c'mon Shin, lemme at him!" Ryuudamon snapped. "I'll show that walking fur rug just what an 'X' can do!"

"I said that's _enough,_" Shinichi said forcefully. The dragon sighed, backing off, and the older boy turned to walk away. "Really, Hirai, you'd better watch yourself. Just because your daddy is a pain in Yamaki's side doesn't mean you can get away with everything for long."

"My dad doesn't have anything to do with this!" Takao shouted after him.

"Suuuure, whatever," Shinichi said, not even turning to face him, before disappearing around a corner with Ryuudamon.

Finally, Takao just gave a yell and punched the nearest wall. The act actually made Bearmon jump a bit, but the boy just grunted, pulling his fist back and shoving his hands into his pockets. So what if he screwed up? He sincerely doubted he was the first Tamer to ever do that...

* * *

It was the most uncomfortable meal Takato ever had with Juri. Well, the _real_ Juri at least. He didn't want to think about the train ride he had with that particular Agent of D-Reaper. Though, it couldn't help but spring up in his mind, much as he hated it.

Something was bothering her. That much was obvious. After all the time she kept her pain bottled up when she was younger, he had learned to read her to an extent. But knowing _something_ was wrong didn't tell him _what_, and he knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't say anything unless she wanted to.

So, the meal passed, with what felt like an invisible barrier between the two of them. Any try at passing conversation didn't last long. He never really felt it appropriate to go into detail about his Tamer battles, all things considered, and she never asked, so that didn't leave him with much else _to_ talk about. Even after two weeks of not seeing one another, they somehow didn't seem to have much to discuss...

After what felt like forever to Takato, the meal ended, and they ventured out into crisp fall air as evening set in. Juri walked ahead of him by a few feet, not saying very much as they headed down the sidewalk. Finally, the Tamer sighed, speaking up. "Hey, Juri?"

"Yes?" she asked, smiling back at him.

He found his train of thought stopping, and he just shook his head. "Uh, nothing..."

"I see," she muttered, frowning a bit suddenly. She came to a stop, turning to lean up against the railing that separated the walkway from the street.

Takato raised an eyebrow, staring at her. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Hey, Takato," she murmured, avoiding his question. She looked up at the sky, staring fairly intently at it. "When you first asked me out, why did you do it?"

That question kind of floored him. What reason other than liking her _would_ he have? He would admit, of course, it took him a long time to work up the nerve... as in, about three years worth after the D-Reaper, but...

"Wh-why do you ask?" he stammered, unintentionally tripping over his words.

She closed her eyes, and her body almost seemed to tense before she asked her next question. "Did you ever... feel sorry for me?"

"Juri!" he suddenly exclaimed. "What kind of question is that?"

Her eyes snapped open, and she bowed her head. "Sorry, I've just... I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. I'm just wondering about things..."

"Like... what kind of things?" he asked cautiously.

"It's just, I wonder," she said, "shouldn't we be closer than we are? After all this time... it's been nearly six years since _that_ day, that time... nearly seven since you became a Tamer... and we've known each other for longer than that. I know we're still kids to some people, but after everything we've been through... after fighting so hard, watching those we care about die..."

"Juri, c'mon..." he said as gently as he could, slowly reaching out to her.

She glanced up at him, looking to his hand. "I don't understand it, Takato," she said, tears brimming in her eyes. "Why would you hesitate now, after all this time?"

Takato's hand instinctively snapped back. "I- Juri, I just don't- I don't want to do anything that would-"

"Why is it that you..." she started, pushing off the railing. "Takato, you just keep me at arm's length. You act like you don't know what to do with me... like I'm some frail doll that might break if you do or say the wrong thing..."

"N-no, Juri, I just, I..." he sputtered. All he could do was stumble over his words. He never expected her to start saying such things, never thought of what he could possibly say in such a situation...

"Like last year, before GranKuwagamon attacked," she said. "You kept passing my house... never stopping, always looking at it. Because of what day it was... you've done the same thing for years... avoid me on _that_ day... will you do the same thing this year? Years after that? Do you think I'm so fragile?"

She sighed, grabbing his hand. "I just want to know... I want to know if we're doing the right thing," she said. "Just... how much do you care about me, Takato? How is it you really feel?"

"Juri, I-" he began, but paused a bit, feeling something in her hand. It was some kind of plastic card.

"That's the keycard to a motel room up the street," she said, stepping closer to him, her cheeks reddening from embarrassment. "Like I said... how is it you really feel?"

* * *

"Well, that went well!" Ruki exclaimed, stomping into the main command chamber of Neo Hypnos with Renamon trailing right behind her.

Ryou glanced away from the monitors he had been staring at for several hours. Guilmon, out of obvious boredom in being nowhere near his Tamer, was next to him. "That's great!" the reptile exclaimed. "Ryou was just saying how he was going to try and talk you into getting us some food when you got back!"

Ruki just stared at the older Tamer in amazement, crossing her arms. "Was he now?"

"Pay no attention to him," Ryou said halfheartedly, obviously knowing fully that he was already defeated.

Ruki's violet eyes narrowed. "Would you like something to drink with that, too?"

"Sure!" Guilmon exclaimed.

Renamon stifled a small laugh, and Ruki just rolled her eyes. "You know, I should kick Yamaki for putting me in charge of training the newbies."

"Hey, who better than the best, right?" Ryou asked.

The girl just spun around and laughed. "Uh-huh. Nice try, but it's too late to suck up now." That said, she headed back out of the chamber.

Guilmon blinked, and stared back up at Ryou. "We're not getting fed, are we?"

Ryou sighed, slumping down against the console before him. "You've got a lot to learn about women, Guilmon," he muttered, and then squinted at one of the main monitors. "I've seriously been staring at these screens for too long. I would've thought Reika would be done by now, or Yamaki would come back down here... dammit, I'm hungry..." He paused for a moment, and then grinned. "Hey, Guilmon, you're perfectly capable of sounding an alarm..."

The 'Legendary' Tamer then turned around to find Guilmon walking down from the platform they'd been standing on. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Ryou shouted after him.

"Dinner! Bye!" Guilmon laughed, waving back at him.

The Tamer groaned, turning back to the monitors. "I sure hope Cyberdramon's having more fun than me right now..."

* * *

Cyberdramon knew deep down that he would never feel like he had a place in this human world. As he flew out across Tokyo, he stared aimlessly about the city beneath him. Many digimon now existed in this world, and yet, most of them came with their own Tamers. That instinct to fight, that love of battle... it still existed within the back of his mind. It would never go away.

He had to resist it, however. For Ryou's sake, to stay in this world...

The other digimon were able to exist peacefully without many problems. He wasn't quite sure how they did it, as it was a struggle for him every day. On the other hand, he doubted there were many digimon out there quite like him...

Suddenly, the dragon felt something. Somewhere... there was something that felt very out of place. Swooping down, Cyberdramon landed atop a building, trying to hone his senses... focus in on whatever it was...

It _felt_ like a digimon, but that much alone shouldn't set off his senses like it was. There was something different about it, and yet disturbingly familiar.

He looked down. There was nothing that seemed unusual. It was just a bunch of humans, going about their business. Then what-

The dragon suddenly tensed, and running on pure instinct, sent his body soaring back into the sky.

"DEMON'S DISASTER!"

A bolt of a dark energy shot right beneath him, just where he had been standing. Growling loudly, Cyberdramon spun in the air, seeking out his attacker... and, surprising even himself, he froze from surprise.

What he saw was, indeed, a digimon. Only, it was one that looked exactly like Dukemon, if not for its colors. The armor was a dark gray, while his cape, along with the armor on his shoulders and knees, was blue. Like Dukemon, he wielded a long lance and a giant shield.

"I should have figured it'd only be so long until someone like you found me out," the Dukemon double said, his voice booming across the skyline. "No matter. I am ChaosDukemon, and I-"

"I know exactly what you are," Cyberdramon snarled, power already surging from my fingertips. "You... ARE MY ENEMY!"

**-To Be Continued**

* * *

**_Notes:_ So, observant readers are going to notice something out of place in this chapter. Or as it is, something that comes from Digimon, but not Tamers, per se. Namely, those uniforms, the design of which coming directly from Digimon Savers. As for _what_ that means... well, just remember I have a love of AU stories. And although everything in the Tamers anime is considered canon for DP, that doesn't mean things from _elsewhere_ can't crop up later on...**

**That'll all become more apparent later on, but remember this is still a Tamers-universe story at heart. I just get to screw with certain things later on. (Okay, some things maybe a bit sooner than later...) **

**Oh, and after the next chapter, I'll slightly re-title the overall series as "Divided Paths." Just because I think it looks a bit better, and it's a tad shorter. What can I say? I'm a picky person. **

* * *

**NEXT  
Digimon Tamers: Divided Paths  
Factor of X: File 1.03 - "Clash Above Tokyo: Vengeful Knight, ChaosDukemon"**


	3. Clash! Vengeful Knight, ChaosDukemon

**_DISCLAIMER: _"Digimon Tamers" and "Digimon Savers" are the property of Bandai, Toei Animation, and Akiyoshi Hongo. Original characters are the creations of either Megaraptor or myself.**

**_NOTES:_ "Michihiko" is the family name I gave Ai & Makoto, since they don't have a canon one. They're named for Michihiko Ohta, singer of the Tamers insert song "Slash!" and composer of many Digimon songs, even up into the newest series, Savers. I've also changed my formatting a bit with this chapter, hoping this will let me get chapters written a bit faster, and will go back and do the same to the others when I have time. I also shortened this chapter's title, because the original one was way too long.**

**Divided Paths  
**_**Factor of X  
**_**Entry 1.03 - "Clash! Vengeful Knight, ChaosDukemon"  
****Written by Infinity Blade**

--

Were it anyone but Cyberdramon faced with this being – an exact duplicate of Dukemon, differing only in color – there would have been pause. There would have been a moment to reflect on just why a doppelganger of Neo Hypnos' strongest warrior even existed. Anyone else would have questioned if this creature was friend or foe.

Cyberdramon, as luck – good or bad – would have it, wasn't anyone else.

"ERASE CLAW!"

Tearing through the fabric of reality itself to summon his power, Cyberdramon unleashed a white wave of pure, destructive energy across the night sky. ChaosDukemon's yellow eyes glinted, and he swung out with his lance. The weapon struck the energy, and though he seemed to struggle briefly to do so, sent the wave flying harmlessly upwards.

"Beast," ChaosDukemon's statement had a definite venom to it. "Nothing but a mindless beast."

In response, Cyberdramon howled, soaring across the distance towards his enemy. Better a beast, in his mind, than a coward who attacks without warning.

ChaosDukemon did not move. He made no attempt to defend himself from the oncoming Perfect. Cyberdramon collided with the knight, claws latching onto his lance and shield. Then, as a look of surprise flashed through ChaosDukemon's eyes, Cyberdramon grinned.

This was because the force of the collision had thrown them off the building ChaosDukemon was standing on.

This enemy underestimated him, the dragon then realized. There was resistance when Cyberdramon hit him, but not enough. Not _nearly_ enough. This Ultimate obviously thought a lower-leveled Digimon wouldn't stand a chance of even budging him.

Which was something that Cyberdramon had encouraged by throwing a weaker Erase Claw at him moments earlier.

Cyberdramon may have been a 'beast,' to be certain. He was wild and loved the thrill of battle above anything else.

Yet, the very last thing the dragon was, was _stupid._

ChaosDukemon twisted in the air, spinning and swatting Cyberdramon away with his shield. Cyberdramon tumbled briefly, but quickly righted himself. He looked down, watching the Ultimate Digimon effectively drop like a rock.

Dukemon couldn't fly in the Real World. Obviously, neither could this ChaosDukemon, giving Cyberdramon the advantage.

This Digimon, however, was obviously _not_ Takato and Guilmon. _Not_ the true Dukemon. _Dukemon_ would have known better than to underestimate him.

Still, ChaosDukemon continued to fall towards the street below. There was nothing he could do to stop his descent. Soon, he would plow straight into the ground...

The ground that – Cyberdramon now noticed – was teeming with humans that had taken notice of the battle. With ChaosDukemon at street level, they would be in great danger momentarily.

Not a concern of Cyberdramon's.

ChaosDukemon glared up at the dragon, an intense hatred lit in his expression.

Unfortunately, it _would_ be a concern of Ryou's.

Thus, Cyberdramon dove down as fast as he could. Not like he wanted to _avoid_ this fight, anyhow.

Cyberdramon could fly down faster than ChaosDukemon could fall, and the Perfect was soon past him. Then, he was beneath him. Growling, he spun in the air, facing straight up at the sky; and staring straight at ChaosDukemon.

"ERASE...!"

His claws again tore through the invisible walls of time and space. Energy gathered fiercely between his claws, far stronger than earlier.

"CLAW!"

The power ripped through the air, plowing into ChaosDukemon's chest. Cyberdramon didn't relent, he just kept pumping the energy from his claws. The knight rocketed into the sky, higher and higher, until he was above the buildings.

Cyberdramon abruptly cut the flow of power, righting himself. He shot up after him just as gravity took over and ChaosDukemon began to fall again.

"CYBER NAIL!"

Energy lanced from the tips of his claws, spiraling out around them. He thrust them out at the falling Ultimate, fully intent on plowing straight through him.

Instead, with a heavy _clang_ his attack was stopped by ChaosDukemon's shield. "Beast," ChaosDukemon said with contempt. He was now pushing Cyberdramon down, not allowing the Perfect to escape from the fall for the moment. "You're strong. I'll give you that. But as you are..."

ChaosDukemon knocked Cyberdramon back away from him with his shield. This time the Ultimate spun around, the tip of his lance lighting up with black energy. Before Cyberdramon could get away, he found the charged lance slamming into his side.

There was an explosion from the power, and Cyberdramon was tossed away. Unable to control his direction, the Perfect Digimon barreled through the sky. He couldn't balance himself, couldn't stop the fact that now _he_ was falling. He couldn't even tell where he was, as the pain surging through his being was overwhelming his senses.

He was only brought to a stop when there was nowhere left to fall. The dragon Digimon crashed into some soft, grassy ground – which effectively exploded in all directions from his weight and momentum.

Cyberdramon grunted as he tried to regain his senses. He could hear humans screaming as they ran. He felt around in the mess of soft, brown dirt he then rested in, trying to get a grip on something to stand up. His side burned with pain from ChaosDukemon's blow, but that couldn't be his concern.

Finally, he was on his feet. He was in a small park, where it looked like there had been a festival of some sort going on moments earlier. Now, the humans were already vacating the area, leaving booths unattended. Further away from the park, there was flat, solid ground with small rides and a ferris wheel even further away. The screaming continued there.

That was good. The humans would soon be gone. He could fight there.

ChaosDukemon landed before him on a sidewalk. Obviously lacking the grace of the real Dukemon, the concrete walkway shattered into pieces of varying sizes.

"You aren't the ones I want," ChaosDukemon said. "But, I suppose if nothing else, beating your carcass into the ground will draw them out."

Cyberdramon smirked, now readily able to ignore his pain. This guy really _was_ underestimating him.

-- --

Ruki had halfway considered ignoring Ryou's hails echoing from her communication earpiece. She _swore_ that if it wasn't something important, she was going to let him have it for interrupting her meal.

As she and Renamon re-entered the Neo Hypnos operations chamber, however, they both quickly realized they probably should have came quicker. Spread out across several viewing screens was an image being fed directly from Ryou's Digivice. It was everything that his partner, Cyberdramon, was currently seeing.

And what he was seeing was a truly disturbing sight.

Onodera Megumi, standing at the doorway Ruki and Renamon had come through, sighed. "You know, I had just been coming into to relieve Reika's shift... but I get the feeling we're all in for a long night."

_That's an understatement,_ Ruki thought to herself, staring in shock at the darkly armored Dukemon. Other Tamers – Hirokazu, Shinichi, and Takao – and their partners were standing around on the floor had similar expressions.

Yamaki, already standing up on the main platform with Reika and Ryou, clicked his lighter. "Just how is this possible?"

"It shouldn't be!" Ruki's voice cut across the chamber, drawing their attention to them. "Takato created Guilmon himself, and all of his forms came from that... he's one of a kind, nothing like that _should _exist!"

"Where's Guilmon and Takato?" Yamaki asked, his tone demanding.

"Guilmon went home a little while ago," Ryou said.

"And Takato's out with Juri," Hirokazu said. He then blinked. Hard. "WAIT! You're not saying..."

"What a preposterous accusation!" Guardromon exclaimed.

"I didn't _say_ this is Takato and Guilmon," Yamaki said, harshly and loudly enough that the robot actually took a step back. "Whatever this is, though..."

"We'll probably need them," Ryou said, glancing back at the image of Cyberdramon's vision as he dodged another attack from the knight.

"Lee!" Yamaki suddenly roared, and Jaarin over by a computer terminal visibly jumped in her seat.

"Y-yes sir?" Jaarin squeaked.

"Contact your brother, Takato, and Kenta, immediately!" Yamaki said. "They need to be there five minutes ago." He glanced at Hirokazu. "You and Guardromon go pick up Guilmon. Takato doesn't need to waste the time doing that."

"What about us?" Shinichi questioned, causing Ryuudamon's face to light up.

"You and Hirai stay here," Yamaki said, and Ryuudamon's expression sagged, along with Takao and Bearmon's. "We don't know if this attack is the only thing we're dealing with, and we may need back-up somewhere."

"I'll call Genki-kun and Sada-chan back," Reika said, turning to a panel beside her.

"Call in Fujieda and Norstein, too," Yamaki said, "have them prepared to remain on stand-by." He paused, just for a second. "Lee!"

Jaarin jumped again, glancing up at him cautiously. "Yes...?"

"Don't forget the Michihiko twins," he said. "Beelzebumon needs to get there too." Yamaki then started turning to face Ryou. Only, as he did so, the young man was running down the stairs.

"Already on it!" Ryou shouted, meeting Ruki and Renamon at the doorway. Without a moment's hesitation, Ruki followed him as he dashed out of the chamber.

"You're lucky, Akiyama!" Ruki shouted after him. "You don't have to run around in color-coded uniforms half the time!"

Ryou shot a grin back at her. "You saying you _want_ to see me in tights?"

The redhead rolled her eyes, while it seemed to elicit a small chuckle out of Renamon. "_Lord_, no. Not in a million years."

-- --

Takato was, to put it quite mildly, dumbstruck. This, on average, wasn't exactly an unheard of phenomenon with the Tamer. Yet this situation certainly called for it.

Standing in the room of the love motel, all he could do was stare, silently, at Juri. She sat on the edge of the room's bed, looking back at him, a pleading – almost desperate – look in her eyes.

The black jacket of her school uniform lay over a nearby chair, leaving her in her buttoned-up white shirt and black skirt. One hand was rested at the top of her chest, nervously toying with the top button of her shirt beneath the uniform's bow. The implication of where that was going was increasing Takato's nervousness by the moment.

Takato had a hard time wrapping his mind around the whole situation. This didn't seem like Juri. Asking if he actually cared about her, practically begging him to physically _prove_ it by taking him to this place...

But then, he remembered when he was ten. When Juri seemed like just a happy, pretty – if somewhat quirky – girl that he had a crush on.

Then Leomon died, and she became a victim of the D-Reaper, on top of it.

He learned then, and the time following that, that she was very good at hiding her feelings from everyone. Even those she loved.

He thought after all of the time, he had learned to see past it.

Apparently, he was wrong.

"Juri..." he began, and then stopped, swallowing hard. His throat felt so dry...

The first button became unfastened, and she cast her eyes at the floor, now tugging at her bow. "Why won't you even come near me, Takato?"

That was a good question. One that Takato couldn't really answer, yet he found himself walking towards her regardless. She looked back up, frowning.

"Is it something wrong with me? Why did you come here this far if you won't..." she trailed off, as the bow's knot was undone and it feel loose around her neck. "I just..."

A sigh escaped Takato's mouth, and he sat down next to her. "Juri, we don't have to do anything like this to-"

She cut him off. "It's been like this for years. You've been like this for years. You _say_ you want to be with me, and I want to be with you, but..." She turned to look at him, reaching out and placing a hand on his cheek. "Words and actions are two different things. You can't... you can't even bring yourself to come to me on days you know I would be hurting inside, and I don't understand why..."

Her hand dropped, and she looked away. "I don't know if there's something wrong with me. I don't know if it's you. I know it sounds so selfish, but if- if you don't really feel that way, then we should both just..."

She didn't finish, and her voice was beginning to tremble. Takato wondered, had he really been that careless? Was he that distant and thoughtless?

All he had wanted to do was protect her...

"Juri," he said, though it came out barely above a whisper. He reached out, gently grabbing her shoulder and turning her to face him.

This couldn't be wrong, could it? He cared about her, he wanted her to be happy...

He stared down into her shimmering eyes, wrapping his other arm cautiously around her back. She didn't move, and said nothing, seemingly waiting to see what he would do.

If this was what he needed to do, then...

_For her to be happy, it's my... responsibility..._

His lips met hers, kissing her gently, at first. At that sign, the girl kissed him back with considerable more force, throwing her arms around him. The kiss deepened from there, their tongues meeting and washing over one another.

Takato would be lying if he said he really knew what he was doing. Despite that, he shifted their weight, laying her down on the bed... leaving him basically sitting on top of her.

He broke the kiss abruptly, and stared down at her. What he was about to do fully dawned on him, and he found himself somehow frozen. His pulse was quickening, and his face was reddening, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to move.

Juri stared at him, inquisitively, and then smiled a bit. "You don't need to be nervous, Takato," she said, grabbing one of his hands. "I don't want you to treat me like I'm so fragile... I know you won't hurt me..."

He let her move his hand, and tensed when she placed it on her chest. His face reddened as he realized what he was touching. "J-Juri..."

She looped her arms around his neck, pulling him back down. "Don't hold back," she murmured, "I just want us to be together..."

Their lips began to brush together again, and in that moment, a thought flashed through his mind.

_This is wrong._

His reflexes overrode his primal instincts, and he snapped back. He escaped her hold, sitting up straight on the bed. "Juri, we can't do this. I... I can't do _this_..."

The girl's expression changed abruptly, at first surprised, and then looking visibly upset. "Takato... why..."

Takato shook his head wildly, sliding off the bed. "I... I just _can't._ _We_ can't... not like this..."

Juri sat up on her knees, tears now threatening to spill from her eyes. "_Why?_" she asked again.

He looked away, not being able to bear that expression. "I- I just..."

"I know you're my friend, Takato," she said softly. "My best friend... I know that you want to protect me, but..." She paused, sniffling. "But... is that where it stops?"

He didn't say anything. There wasn't much he _could_ say.

"You're so careful to not say or do anything that would upset me... ever. You can't even bring yourself to see me when the D-Reaper anniversary comes up... You're so careful and deliberate about even _touching_ me..."

"Juri," he said, still not turning back around. "Just... please..."

He wanted to say 'stop,' but couldn't bring himself to do it.

"In all this time, Takato... did you ever ask yourself why you're doing all of this?"

Takato opened his eyes, and began turning around. Before he could even begin to process that comment, he heard a slight buzzing in his ear.

He hadn't even taken the comm unit out of his ear, and had completely forgotten about it. Mentally cursing Yamaki's timing, he managed to look at Juri.

Instantly, he wished he hadn't. She was hugging herself, tears streaming down her face, which was red from... what? Embarrassment? Shame? Or something else entirely?

Sighing as the buzzing continued without end, Takato tapped the earpiece. "This is Battle Tamer Matsuda. Over."

"Takato-kun!" a chipper voice exclaimed over the line. The teenager blinked, instantly recognizing it.

"J-Jaarin-san?"

"No time for explanations," she said. "Administrator Yamaki is having me contact all Ultimate-class Tamers. An Ultimate Digimon has appeared and is currently battling Cyberdramon. Everyone else has already been contacted, and Hirokazu-kun is en route to pick up Guilmon and take him to the battle."

"An Ultimate..." Takato muttered to himself. It had been a long time since one had Realized... why didn't they know about it sooner?

"We don't know where it's come from, we- _I_ just know that Jen and the others are going to need Dukemon. Because, well, um..."

Takato raised an eyebrow. "Jaarin-san? Is there something different about this Digimon?"

"It... well, it _is_ Dukemon," she said. "In darker armor. But, it's unmistakably Dukemon..."

Takato's eyes widened, and he looked back to Juri. Her tear-stained face turned away, saying nothing.

His heart felt torn. He wanted desperately to know what to do. He wanted to know what he was really even _feeling._ And yet, this Digimon – this battle – it was something he had no choice but to join.

"Go," she mumbled. "I... it doesn't matter for now. You were put here to protect people. That's more important than anything else..."

He forced himself to turn away. He had to. There was no choice.

He made himself walk. As he went out the door, that walk became a run. He didn't – knew that he _couldn't_ – break that run. Because if he did, he knew he might slow down and look back...

-- --

The battle had become one-sided. Much as he hated to admit it, Cyberdramon was becoming quickly aware of this fact. As his and ChaosDukemon's fight moved through the now-evacuated human festival, the dragon was on the defensive. Completely. Any attacks were avoided or deflected easily by the Ultimate.

Cyberdramon had given him too much time to understand his techniques.

On the other hand, Cyberdramon was keeping up well enough with dodging ChaosDukemon's blows. A jab with his lance here, a kick there. Though this Digimon wasn't really Dukemon, though he was far more careless and not nearly as skilled, he was enough like Dukemon that Cyberdramon could read his moves.

Still, he couldn't keep it up forever. Eventually, one of those jabs would cut through the Perfect's defense, and it would all be over.

He needed to do _something._

Jumping away from ChaosDukemon, Cyberdramon took his one advantage over the knight: flight. Soaring up above the Ultimate, Cyberdramon took aim.

"ERASE...!"

He again gathered his strength, gathering as much power from the small rips in time and space he created as he could. He held it for several moments, charging the attack, while ChaosDukemon only stood there, staring at him.

"CLAW!"

He finally unleashed it, and ChaosDukemon braced himself. The knight jammed his lance into the ground and held up his shield, which intercepted the oncoming blast. Energy spilled out from around the shield, destroying the ground in front of him, obliterating booths, trees, and walkways behind him. In the end, however, as the blue-white glow of Cyberdramon's power faded, ChaosDukemon himself was unharmed.

But Cyberdramon was no longer in the sky.

He was back on the ground, dashing beneath ChaosDukemon's shield. The dragon gave a roar, swiping up with one claw, tearing through the dimensional space ChaosDukemon occupied in the process.

The tear traveled along his chest, and ChaosDukemon screamed. Grinning wildly, Cyberdramon sent his other claw flying up, tearing a small time-space rip through the Ultimate's arm, eliciting another cry of pain. And, on top of that, it made him drop his shield.

Both claws met right in front of ChaosDukemon's face, fistfuls of energy already generated. "ERASE CLAW!"

The point-blank attack sent ChaosDukemon flying, his metal-clad body smashing into the pavement of the park. It shattered beneath him, and the knight screamed.

This was good, Cyberdramon knew. He could hurt this thing. If he could hurt him, that meant he could _kill_ him.

"FOOL!" ChaosDukemon screamed, leaping back to his feet, seemingly no worse for the wear. Black light lanced out around his lance. "You dare think you have what it takes to harm me? BEAST!" He dashed forward, thrusting his lance out. "DEMON'S DISASTER!"

That attack was the same as Royal Saber. Cyberdramon instantly recognized it, but didn't have the time to get away far enough. Instead of hitting him, at least, it struck the ground before him, violently tossing him back. He crashed through several of the humans' festival booths, coming to a stop as he roughly slid along hard pavement.

He howled, the pain in his side from an earlier attack flaring up on top of this new pain. His body hurt so much he could barely move it, only able to tilt his head enough to see ChaosDukemon walking towards him. His shield was back in his hand, and was starting to glow brightly.

Final Elysian?

"JUDECCA PRISON!" ChaosDukemon cried and shot a beam of light... into the sky.

Cyberdramon didn't understand at first, but it all became clear moments later. Smaller beams of light fell from the sky, surrounding the dragon like a cage. And in the middle of all that, falling down towards him, with no way for him to escape, was a much larger burst of energy.

"There is no escaping my prison," ChaosDukemon said. "Perfectly fitting for putting an animal to sleep, wouldn't you say?"

"CARD SLASH! _Pawn Device!_"

A white dome of light formed over Cyberdramon, reflecting the beams that made his cage. The final burst of light struck against the shielding, and though the earth around him shook... Cyberdramon was unharmed.

ChaosDukemon did a double-take, obviously not very understanding of the situation all of a sudden.

Seconds later, Ryou dropped down in front of the dragon. "Looks like you've got some trouble here, buddy."

Soon after, a female warrior in golden armor with long white hair landed next to the brown-haired Tamer. Sakuyamon.

"We'll take it from here," Sakuyamon said.

Before Cyberdramon could wonder who the 'we' she spoke of was, he heard two shouts.

"Pa PU PU!"

"DEATH SLINGER!"

A combination of purple energy bursts and pink heart bubbles went spiraling towards ChaosDukemon. The Ultimate knight barely dodged in time, looking about wildly for his attackers.

There was a laugh, and Beelzebumon Blast Mode swooped down, while the green-haired Kitagawa Kenta stepped out from behind a booth with the pint-sized MarineAngemon.

"I always wondered how well Dukemon would stand up against my Blast Mode!" the Demon Lord exclaimed. "Guess trying it out on a fake is the best I'm gonna get!"

ChaosDukemon hissed, raising his weapon and shield. "Be gone with you, demon! You're not who I wish to battle!"

The entire earth trembled, and ChaosDukemon turned, looking up. And up. And _up._

"How's about me, sunshine?" SaintGalgomon asked, staring down at him.

Cyberdramon grunted, trying to sit up. "Ryou..."

"Easy," Ryou said, waving a hand. "The others can take it from here."

Cyberdramon snarled. "This is my opponent! If we evolve, Justimon could-!"

Ryou sighed, crossing his arms. "Talk to me when you can stand up without wanting to scream in pain." He grimaced and sat on the ground next to him, cross-legged. "Trust me, I can feel it. And it's not pretty."

The dragon gave another grunt. Much as he didn't want to admit it, he couldn't fight anymore... but he wasn't going to forget this...

"So be it!" ChaosDukemon cried, black light circling out around his lance again. "If I must defeat all of you to get to Dukemon... then that's _exactly_ what I'll do!"

"BRING IT ON!" Beelzebumon screamed back at him. Without any hesitation – or planning, for that matter – the Demon Lord flew down at him, his claw glowing brightly. "DARKNESS-!"

He didn't have the chance to finish. Moving fast – even faster than he did against Cyberdramon – ChaosDukemon spun back around, striking Beelzebumon straight in the head with his energized lance, plowing the other Ultimate's body straight into – and through – the pavement.

ChaosDukemon looked back up, staring around the area at his other enemies. "Next?"

Sakuyamon's body tensed, and she readied her staff. "Kenta," Ruki's voice said from Renamon's Ultimate. "I think you might want to hold back and make sure MarineAngemon protects Ryou and Cyberdramon. This is about to get _very_ ugly."

-- --

"Shuichon?" Lopmon asked softly, poking his head inside his Tamer's room. He found her just sitting on her bed, silently, still in her school uniform. She was looking out her window at the brightly lit night of the city. She didn't say anything, so he continued in. "Did you have a good day today at school?"

The girl laughed at that, a tad bitterly.

Lopmon hopped up on her bed, his head drooping. "Sorry."

Shuichon looked back at him, smiling slightly. "Don't be." She paused, and the brief smile vanished. "Jen-niichan told you about what I felt when the Digimon Realized today, didn't he?"

Lopmon nodded sullenly. "I knew when it happened, Shuichon..."

Shuichon sighed, hugging her knees to her chest and resting her head on them. "Jen-niichan and Terriermon are fighting out there again."

"Indeed, they are..."

There was a gap of silence before she spoke again.

"Lopmon. Did I ever tell you that I'm sorry for the things I said to you back then? Before... before Mom and Dad died?"

Lopmon's black eyes widened for a second, and then he forced a smile. "Do not worry about it, Shuichon. It is in the past."

"You were right to be afraid of me," she suddenly muttered.

"Shuichon! How can you say something like that?"

"Because," she said, looking back at him. "Look what I created..."

"To destroy something evil!" Lopmon said. "That Demon Lord was evil in the purest sense! After everything she did-"

"And then Cherubimon loaded her data. That wasn't just you. It was _us._"

The silence returned, and Shuichon looked back to her window.

"You were right to be afraid of what I could do," she said, finally. "Because I'm starting to be afraid of myself..."

This time, the silence wasn't broken.

-- --

"IZUNA!"

Elemental fox spirits surged from Sakuyamon's palm, flying for ChaosDukemon. As they tried to ensnare him, he leapt high into the sky – and right into a punch from SaintGalgomon.

Twisting in the air, he tried to absorb the impact of the giant robot's fist with his shield. However, SaintGalgomon's sheer weight alone made certain _that_ didn't do him much good. The knight was knocked across the sky, slamming into the ferris wheel – the force of which made the entire structure collapse on top of him.

"I don't suppose we can hope against hope that'll be it," Sakuyamon muttered.

"Do you _really_ want me to answer that?" Ruki asked back.

"Sakuyamon! MarineAngemon!" Jenrya's voice boomed from SaintGalgomon. "Cover Beelzebumon, Cyberdramon, and Ryou-san!"

Already, ChaosDukemon was crawling out of the wreckage. Sakuyamon landed beside Beelzebumon, singing a soft song as a shield of cherry blossoms surrounded them. With a small cry of "Pi!", MarineAngemon had meanwhile encased his partner, Ryou, and Cyberdramon in a protective blue heart bubble.

"Alright, Jen!" SaintGalgomon shouted. "Lets rock his world! BURST SHOT!"

Compartments all over the giant Ultimate's body opened up, revealing enough rocket launchers and guns to make a small army jealous. He instantly opened fire on ChaosDukemon, unleashing an insane level of firepower on the Ultimate that was barely bigger than a very tall human.

They saw ChaosDukemon look up in just enough time for explosions of fire to erupt all around him. For a moment, he was lost in the smoke and explosions... until he came leaping out of the flames, above SaintGalgomon's line of fire.

"Not so fast!" SaintGalgomon retracted his weapons, activating the large, yellow missiles on his shoulders. "Now that you're up in the air... GIANT MISSILE!"

The twin missiles rocketed off for their target, the frowning faces on them actually smiling brightly as they neared the Dukemon double. "DEMON'S DISASTER!" The black light from his lance shot off again, and he swept it through the air, cutting through both missiles. The mid-air explosion was massive, tossing ChaosDukemon back to the ground again.

He crashed hard once more. It made little difference in the landscape, as the battlefield of the festival grounds was then little more than a large collection of rubble and debris strewn about everywhere.

By the time ChaosDukemon could sit up again, he was face-to-face with Beelzebumon's positron gun. The barrel of which was glowing brightly with purple energy. Beelzebumon's three green eyes squinted, and the Demon Lord bared his fangs. "You stupid son of a bitch," he said. "You think you can take out the great Beelzebumon so easily?"

"Stand down," Sakuyamon, standing behind Beelzebumon, said calmly. "You can't beat all of us. If not, I have _no_ problem with my friend here blowing your head clean off."

"So, yes, _please,_" Beelzebumon said, and grinned sadistically, "don't give up."

ChaosDukemon closed his eyes, bowing his head. "Fools. Just what do you think I am?"

"A third-rate phony, it looks like!" Beelzebumon spat.

"No," ChaosDukemon said, and in a flash, dropped his lance and grabbed the end of Beelzebumon's positron gun. He flipped the Demon Lord over onto his back before he could react, and then quickly reclaimed his lance. Beelzebumon tried to fire a fleeting shot of his gun, but ChaosDukemon dodged it, just in time to block a strike from Sakuyamon's staff with his lance. "I am called the Knight of Hazard, he who is capable of bringing ultimate ruination to _all_ worlds!"

"You sure think highly of yourself," Ruki grunted as Sakuyamon struggled against their opponent.

"No," ChaosDukemon said again. "It is not I who chose that title..."

"That doesn't explain why you look like Dukemon!" Sakuyamon said.

ChaosDukemon laughed. "Oh, really? Why don't you ask him yourself? After all... Matsuda Takato is just as much responsible for who I am as he is for what he is."

For some reason, those words caused Sakuyamon to hesitate for a brief second.

Which was all ChaosDukemon needed. He knocked her back, aiming his lance at her. "It is _you_ who should stand down. It is not you all that I wish to fight. DEMON'S DISASTER!"

Sakuyamon was blown back, and SaintGalgomon was barely in time to catch her in the palms of his hands. "You sure have a poor way of showing it!" the giant robot snapped.

ChaosDukemon didn't respond. He raised his shield, now glowing, and aimed at the sky. "JUDECCA PRISON!" The blast shot up, and moments later, bars of light fell down around SaintGalgomon, holding him at bay.

"Oh crap," SaintGalgomon muttered quickly before the final blast of power from the attack came down and struck him. The earth rumbled as his humongous body came crashing into it. He lost his grip on Sakuyamon and she tumbled on the ground, unmoving.

ChaosDukemon turned quickly, slamming his foot onto Beelzebumon's positron gun as he tried to lift it from the ground. "Don't even think about it."

Beelzebumon snarled, grabbing one of his handguns, which ChaosDukemon swatted away with his lance. He then kicked the Demon Lord in the head incredibly hard before pointing his lance at MarineAngemon, who was still protecting his Tamer, Ryou, and Cyberdramon in his shield. "I suggest you stay where you are."

For a moment, there was nothing. No one moved. SaintGalgomon, Sakuyamon, Beelzebumon, and Cyberdramon had all been injured or weakened, and yet ChaosDukemon showed no signs of slowing down.

Then, there was light.

"ROYAL SABER!"

The blazing beam of energy cut across the shadows of night, slamming into ChaosDukemon and carrying him along until his slammed into the remains of the ferris wheel, an explosion erupting from the impact. Grunting, ChaosDukemon fell to his knees as smoke rose from his body. He looked up, and then... he laughed.

Standing in front of the injured SaintGalgomon and Sakuyamon, with Guardromon hovering overhead with Hirokazu, was a white armored knight with a flowing, crimson cape. He held the same weapons as ChaosDukemon, and the lance was already lit up with another charge of bright light.

"You who have hurt my friends!" the white knight cried. "For this unjust attack, you will not be forgiven! From this point on, I, Dukemon, shall be your opponent!"

**-To Be Continued**

**---**

**_NOTES:_ This is one of the longest fights I've ever worked on... and it's still not over yet! The next chapter is going to be FUN.**

**For those paying attention and watching Savers, you'll notice a couple of names dropped in this chapter. So, yeah. It's a bit more than uniforms that I'm adapting here. Trust me, everything is done to the benefit of the story and fleshing out the universe. **

**One might be wondering, three chapters in, what all this stuff in the plot has to do with the X Antibody, considering its in the summary but hasn't even been mentioned here. Aside from Bearmon's insult to Ryuudamon last chapter. It's a vital part of the plot, so just wait a bit. This series is just getting warmed up.**

**---**

**NEXT: Divided Paths: Factor of X  
****Entry 1.04 – "Crimson and Azure! Dukemon VS ChaosDukemon"**


	4. Dukemon VS ChaosDukemon

**DISCLAIMER:** **"Digimon Tamers" and "Digimon Savers" are the property of Toei Animation, Bandai, and Akiyoshi Hongo. All original characters and concepts are either mine or Megaraptor's.**

**Divided Paths**  
_**Factor of X**_  
**Entry 1.04 – "Crimson and Azure! Dukemon VS ChaosDukemon"  
****Written by Infinity Blade**

--

ChaosDukemon chuckled darkly, forcing himself to his feet. Despite just taking a direct hit from Dukemon's Royal Saber, he didn't seem all that much worse for the wear.

"Dukemon," the dark knight said, a mixture of both bitterness and joy in his voice, "at long last. I've been waiting for you..."

"Answer me now, impostor!" Dukemon screamed. "Just who are you, and what business do you have inciting a battle of this magnitude, surrounded by innocent people!?"

"Innocent?" ChaosDukemon asked, and then scoffed. "Such a term is a dangerous generalization, Dukemon. Very few sentient beings can make that claim honestly. Isn't that right, Matsuda Takato!?"

"Shut up!" Takato shouted from within Dukemon. "I don't know how something like you could possibly exist, but if you're determined to be our enemy... I won't let you hurt my friends or anyone else, no matter what!"

"Heh. It's a little too late for that," ChaosDukemon said, motioning in the direction of the injured SaintGalgomon and Sakuyamon.

SaintGalgomon placed a massive hand on the ground, trying to push himself up. "Don't be so... sure about... ARGH!" he then collapsed back to the ground with an earth-shaking thud, as both he and Sakuyamon glowed brightly. Their forms shrunk back down, into Terriermon, Jenrya, Renamon, and Ruki.

Ruki grimaced visibly, holding one arm and staring down at the D-Ark in her hand. "Wh- what the...?"

"Your time is nearly at its end, Digimon Tamers," ChaosDukemon said. "Tell me, how many fights have you been in over the years? How many battles have you had where you took even more damage than you did from me, and yet were still able to keep fighting? Yet now..."

"Just what the hell is that supposed to mean!?" Dukemon barked.

ChaosDukemon said nothing, while Beelzebumon gave a howl. The Demon Lord was standing up, rubbing his head and glaring intensely at Dukemon's double. "I could give a shit about your riddles!" Beelzebumon shouted.

"Beelzebumon!" Dukemon said. "Can you still fight?"

"You bet your ass!" Beelzebumon shot back. "Ain't no way I'm backing down from a guy like this!"

"Alright then!" Hirokazu said, leaping off of Guardromon as the boxy robot landed beside the knight and demon. "Lets show this punk what we're made of!"

"Hirokazu," Takato said, "are you sure-"

"This guy's hurt my friends too," Hirokazu said, and grinned back at Guardromon. "And we're not exactly helpless these days, are we, buddy?"

"Not in the least!" Guardromon replied. "Just give the word, Hirokazu!"

"Right!" the brown-haired teenager said, thrusting out his D-Ark. "MATRIX EVOLUTION!"

Bright light engulfed both Tamer and Digimon, fusing them into one. "Guardromon, EVOLVE!" A single, humanoid figure was formed. He was somewhat bigger than Dukemon or Beelzebumon, clad in black, cybernetic armor. As the light faded, it was clear this being was something of a far more 'complete' version of an Andromon. "HIGHANDROMON!"

ChaosDukemon's eyes narrowed. "Still going to keep sacrificing your friends by throwing them at me, Dukemon?"

"Cut the crap!" Hirokazu's voice echoed from HighAndromon. "You don't even know what you're talking about!"

"Indeed!" HighAndromon proclaimed. "Our friendship is a strength far greater than any power you can summon!"

Beelzebumon chuckled, arming his positron gun. "I may not be as corny as either of these guys, but yeah... you ain't seen nothin' yet, asshole!"

"If that's the way you want it..." ChaosDukemon growled, and then charged at the three Ultimate warriors. "I'LL TEAR ALL OF YOU TO PIECES!"

Dukemon held his shield up, bracing himself for any incoming attacks. ChaosDukemon was screaming wildly, and his rush seemed notably... reckless. Yet, one who would make such foolhardy battle decisions couldn't have possibly beaten Cyberdramon, Sakuyamon, and SaintGalgomon...

"That's as far as you go!" Beelzebumon cried, unleashing a volley of blasts from his gun. "DEATH SLINGER!"

HighAndromon thrust his hands into the air, generating power between them before thrusting it forward. "ATOMIC RAY!" The energy burst forth from his palms, joining with Beelzebumon's attack.

ChaosDukemon roared, lobbing his giant shield at the attacks. They struck it, their combined force exploding against it. It sent the shield flying back towards ChaosDukemon like a bullet... but he was no longer there. Instead, Dukemon's gaze shot up, finding his double high in the air, his lance lit with black energy.

"What is he doing?" Takato asked absently before he and Dukemon came to the realization. In the next instant, Dukemon leapt back in front of Ruki, Jenrya, and their Digimon, currently defenseless.

"DEMON'S DISASTER!"

Dukemon held up his shield and braced himself, taking the full attack himself. His shield did absorb most of the blast, but it was still a great strain on him and the sheer force of it sent waves of pain straight through him. As the onslaught subsided, he gave a grunt of pain and dropped to one knee.

"You... bastard..." Dukemon huffed.

"You're gonna PAY for that!" Beelzebumon cried, taking flight and going straight for ChaosDukemon as he fell back to earth.

"N-no..." Takato stammered, but couldn't shout out. Beelzebumon was now even further enraged, though, and no words were going to stop him regardless. Even if he was falling right into ChaosDukemon's trap.

Too many battles had taught Takato a lot about a warrior's mind and heart. Jenrya, Ruki, and Ryou were all still better strategists than him, but there were still things he understood these days that he never would have in the past.

Understanding that, FEELING the force of the Demon's Disaster, he knew... that attack wasn't meant to harm his friends. It was meant for Dukemon, and Dukemon alone. ChaosDukemon knew EXACTLY what he'd do by taking aim at those who couldn't defend themselves.

And in turn, he knew exactly what Beelzebumon would do.

"EAT THIS!" Beelzebumon roared, flying right up in front of the descending ChaosDukemon, pushing his gun into the dark knight's face. "DEATH-!"

"FOOL!" ChaosDukemon shouted, grabbing the barrel of the gun and whipping it – and Beelzebumon's body around – just as he was firing... and sending the blast straight at HighAndromon.

The android tried to dodge, and succeeded in not getting hit dead on, but was still hit all the same. He was tossed back, his heavy body crushing rubble beneath him as he landed.

Shock was written on Beelzebumon's face, but it was quickly replaced with pain. ChaosDukemon slammed his knee into Beelzebumon's gut, and then struck the Demon Lord in the back with his elbow as he doubled over. "Your fight is over," ChaosDukemon spat, and the blow sent Beelzebumon rocketing into the ground, which wasn't far below them by that point.

ChaosDukemon landed gracefully next to the fallen demon, and eyed him carefully. "You are beaten, yet you do not revert," he said, scowling. "...ah. Of course. Your power lies beyond just your Tamers, doesn't it?"

His lance started to charge with power again. "We shall have to rectify this permanently, then. I regret having to take it this far..."

"HOLD IT!" HighAndromon cried, on his feet, but staggering. "I shall not allow you to-!"

"SILENCE!" ChaosDukemon roared, making a swift motion with his hand. His shield came flying back from where it had been sent earlier, flying past him and slamming into HighAndromon's body. HighAndromon hit the ground again, but this time, he glowed brightly and reverted back to Hirokazu and Guardromon.

"Now," ChaosDukemon said, holding up a hand as his shield returned to him. He aimed his charged lance back at Beelzebumon. "Where was I..."

"ENOUGH!"

The sharp cry was enough to catch ChaosDukemon's attention, but not quickly enough as Dukemon charged into him, slamming shield into shield. Dukemon pushed him back across the ground, his own lance charged with a bright blue power.

"You've done enough damage!" Takato screamed. Dukemon came to an abrupt stop, and ChaosDukemon leapt back.

"It ends here!" Dukemon proclaimed. "ROYAL SABER!"

"DEMON'S DISASTER!"

Without hesitation, both knights thrust their charged lances at one another... and in an instant, both were enveloped in a massive explosion.

-- --

More than anything in the world, Ruki hated to feel helpless. The sensation of not being able to do anything about the world around you was something she couldn't stand, and she always fought to be above that. She refused to be helpless.

Yet, that's exactly what she felt like. They had been powerless to stop ChaosDukemon in his assault, and now could only sit and watch him fight Dukemon. They were helpless to do anything about it, helpless to stop HighAndromon and Beelzebumon from falling against him. Helpless as Dukemon and ChaosDukemon's attacks struck one another...

The explosion was deafening. The earth shook. Ruki quickly lost sight of both combatants as dirt and rubble flew up around them, and she had to shield her eyes. Then, there was nothing.

The rubble and dust began to settle, but there was only silence coming from where Dukemon and ChaosDukemon had been standing. Several moments passed, and still nothing was heard...

Finally, the dust settled completely, and Ruki lowered her hand from her eyes. There was no sound, but there was light. A bright, crimson light surging up from the ground where Dukemon had been standing, reaching towards the heavens.

It was not the only one, though. Parallel to it, in place of ChaosDukemon, was a blue light.

"That's not possible," Jenrya, standing next to her and Renamon with Terriermon in his arms.

"None of this should be," Renamon said.

Both pillars of light flashed brightly, and from each appeared a figure floating above the entire scene. In place of Dukemon was a red-armored knight with glowing, angelic wings. "DUKEMON, CRIMSON MODE!"

He – along with everyone else – seemed immediately taken aback by what he faced. Floating across from him was still an identical double, his armor dark blue, and his wings just as bright. "CHAOSDUKEMON, AZURE MODE!"

It made no sense, Ruki knew. This creature's entire _existence_ was so improbable that it was just insane. Guilmon and all of his forms was a Digimon created from Takato's mind. He was unique. One of a kind.

Yet the fact this thing was real was something that couldn't be denied. She had felt first-hand the force of his attacks, the pain it brought her and Renamon... The _helplessness_ of not being able to do a damned thing about it.

"Just... what _are_ you!?" Dukemon screamed at his opponent.

"I am you," ChaosDukemon said, his voice lacking emotion. He seemed to find no humor in mimicking Dukemon's transformation, however it was he did it in the first place. There was no hatred. No malice. He held out a hand, willing a shining white blade to appear in it. "You are me."

"You don't even make any sense!" Takato shouted, Dukemon thrusting out a hand and summoning the same type of sword.

"Oh, I completely understand that," ChaosDukemon said. "I find it not at all surprising that you would think such a thing, blind as you are to the nature of the world around you. Tell me, Takato, Dukemon – whichever – how is Katou-san doing?"

Ruki blinked a bit and looked up at Jenrya, who seemed to have the same question on his face. She looked back at ChaosDukemon. Why would he ask something like that, and why would he call Juri that?

"Leave her out of this!" Takato roared. "If you think I'm going to so much as let you lay a _hand_ on her..."

"Oh, so _now_ you want to be the protector," ChaosDukemon hissed. "Typical."

"You have no place, no right to be critical of anyone!" Dukemon said. "Not after what you've done to our friends."

"They're alive."

"No thanks to you!" Dukemon shot back.

"Only because I knew nothing would happen to them," ChaosDukemon said, and pointed his sword at the crimson knight. "I knew that because I know _you._ It is as I told you, we are the same."

"All you are is mad," Dukemon said, lowering his own blade.

"No, I assure you," ChaosDukemon replied. "I am _quite_ sane. I came and have done what has been done for only one purpose... to get you. Now that you are here, and it is just you and I, I assure you that I have no intentions of harming your friends."

"You expect me to believe that?" Dukemon asked.

"Believe what you wish," ChaosDukemon said. "All I expect of you now is to defend yourself!"

Both knights dashed at each other in the air. As their blades met, it sent out a thunderous shock wave of power that further shattered the ground beneath them. Seeing this, Dukemon kicked away and flew higher up into the sky, with ChaosDukemon wasting no time in following his foe.

Ruki cast her eyes back down to what was once their battlefield. Hirokazu and Guardromon were back on their feet, checking on Beelzebumon. The demon Digimon tried to insist he was fine, and seemed poised to continue the fight before he fell back and reverted to Impmon.

Further away, MarineAngemon was working to heal Cyberdramon, now frantic due to the fact that he seemed to have his work cut out for him.

And all Ruki could do was sit there, watching everything. She looked down at her D-Ark and sneered at it, as if it were a person that would be able to see the disgust on her face. How could she have fallen so easily? She had faced worse, hadn't she?

"_Your time is nearly at its end, Digimon Tamers. Tell me, how many fights have you been in over the years? How many battles have you had where you took even more damage than you did from me, and yet were still able to keep fighting? Yet now..."_

Remembering ChaosDukemon's words sent a shiver up Ruki's spine. Looking back up to the sky, where every strike that the two combatants laid upon each other echoed like a thunderclap, she knew exactly why.

It was because he was right.

As Sakuyamon, she and Renamon had faced countless enemies. But not a single one had ever dispatched them like ChaosDukemon did.

In years past, there had been very few foes that had lasted long against Dukemon Crimson Mode. The Agent of D-Reaper that acted as a clone of Juri – codenamed ADR-01 – had been one of them. And that thing had been the only one to come even _close_ to beating him.

ChaosDukemon Azure Mode wasn't anywhere close to beating him. No, what was troubling was that he was matching Dukemon's every move. To her eyes, they were little more than flashes of red and blue, now, but the battle still refused to go either way.

Which meant he was just as strong. And knowing what Dukemon was capable of, what he could _become,_ that fact was more disturbing than anything she could think of.

-- --

MarineAngemon floated above Cyberdramon, gently sending wave after wave of little blue bubbles down to him. As each one touched the dragon, they were absorbed into his body, slowly healing his injuries.

The key word was 'slowly.' Cyberdramon was really wishing the little gnat would hurry up.

All he could still do was watch. Which was much easier now that the battle had taken itself to the skies, where Dukemon and ChaosDukemon continued to battle relentlessly. Cyberdramon almost snorted in annoyance. Though neither one of the fighters was winning, Dukemon seemed on the defensive, constantly flying higher and higher against his enemy's attacks. He was trying to get further away from those in the city that couldn't defend themselves, but at the same time costing himself any sort of tactical advantage.

It was all well and good to protect the innocent – Cyberdramon had no issues with that. There was no way he could defeat ChaosDukemon without taking the fight _to_ him, however. If Dukemon kept up like he was, there wouldn't even be a chance for victory, no matter _how_ powerful he was.

No, there would be no victory with just Dukemon alone. And if he fell...

Cyberdramon hated to admit it, but he was steadily starting to realize that – even if he and Ryou became Justimon – even _he_ could not defeat ChaosDukemon. Not as they currently were, anyhow. Not alone.

Grunting loudly, Cyberdramon dug his claws into the ground and began to push himself up. He knew what needed to be done.

"Pa pi pu!" MarineAngemon blathered.

"Hey, Cyberdramon," Kenta said."What are you doing? MarineAngemon's not done-"

"I'm well enough to fly," Cyberdramon said, shoving MarineAngemon out of the way as he got to his feet.

Ryou was standing in an instant. "Do you seriously think that we'd do anything but get in Dukemon's way now?"

Cyberdramon looked down at his Tamer. Out of everybody, humans and Digimon both, Ryou was the only one who truly knew him. Even after so many years, there were so many secrets that lay in their past that no one else would ever know.

Likewise, Cyberdramon was probably the only one who really knew Ryou. As such, it was no surprise when, despite his words, the young man pulled out his D-Ark.

Which Cyberdramon promptly swatted out of his hands.

"Hey!" Ryou shouted. "What're you-"

The dragon gave his Tamer a shove, making him stumble back and nearly lose his balance. "This isn't something Justimon can do."

Saying nothing else, he flew into the air, ignoring Ryou's shouts of protests. It wouldn't be long before he'd be unable to hear them, at any rate.

As he neared the two dueling knights, Cyberdramon truly appreciated just how intense the fight was. Every time their swords so much as glanced against the other, a wave of power burst out around them that would pretty well obliterate anything nearby had they not been in the air.

Beneath his mask, Cyberdramon's eyes widened as he paid closer attention to the next blow. As another clap of energy shot out around them, he understood something – the swords weren't actually even _touching._ The energy around them was so intense that as soon as they were close, it created an explosion of power that knocked the blades back before they could connect.

More impressive was the fact that neither warrior's armor had a single scratch on it. Neither Dukemon nor ChaosDukemon had been able to even penetrate the other's defense. Given that they had been going at it for several minutes, the warrior in Cyberdramon's heart almost wanted to just watch and see who would actually hit the other first. With the kind of power that was on display, all it would take is one clean blow to finish the other one.

His mind knew better, though.

Obviously growing frustrated with the continued stalemate, ChaosDukemon flew back, still holding his sword in a defensive state. "This is growing tiresome, Dukemon!"

"Hmph! This is your battle, impostor!" Dukemon said. "You're the only thing that's keeping it going!"

ChaosDukemon gave a snarl. "And I'll end it!" He pulled his sword back, laying the flat of the blade on his empty palm and pointing it at Dukemon. "I will be whole again!"

"You speak nonsense!" Dukemon shouted, raising his own sword high above his head. "But if a quick death is all you wish for, I, Dukemon, shall grant it!"

"Pierce him, Tyrfing!" ChaosDukemon screamed, the point of his blade increasing in brightness before he dashed at Dukemon through the air. "DESTRUCTION SWORD!"

"Blaze bright, Blutgang!" Dukemon shouted, sweeping the sword down to his side as if placing it in an invisible sheath. He waited, calmly, before moving forward rapidly and 'drawing' the sword, the edge of it glowing intensely. "INVINCIBLE SWORD!"

This was it, Cyberdramon realized, and he was moving before he even realized it. He tore through dimensional space with his claws wildly, quickly gathering power. He did so faster and more recklessly than he had ever dared before, knowing any hesitation would mean it was all for nothing.

ChaosDukemon didn't even see him coming.

The attacks of the armored knights collided, and there was a surging flash of energy. Cyberdramon felt pain for a moment, and then all he saw was white...

-- --

Takato hurt all over. That, at least, was the first sign upon regaining consciousness that he was still alive. As he opened his eyes, though, he wasn't expecting to see Ruki's face.

He gave a shout of surprise, instinctively, and she flicked him on the forehead with her thumb and index finger before turning to shout behind her. "He's still breathing!"

"Gee, thanks for the concern," he muttered as he started to sit up – and immediately regretted it as an even more intense pain shot through his right arm. The one that Dukemon Crimson Mode was holding his sword, Blutgang, in. Gritting his teeth to keep from screaming, he grabbed it to keep it from moving.

Last he remembered, Dukemon attacked ChaosDukemon, and he saw Cyberdramon coming up from behind...

He suddenly looked around frantically. "Guilmon!"

"Takatoooooooooo...mon."

Takato looked over his shoulder to see Guilmon laying behind him, Jenrya helping him up into a sitting position. The reptile's yellow eyes were spinning, he was obviously disoriented, and hadn't called Takato that since they first met when he was _ten..._ but otherwise seemed okay.

"Wh-what happened...?" Takato asked.

"We were hoping you could tell us," Renamon, standing behind Ruki, said. "All we saw was a bright flash, and then Dukemon fell out of the sky and landed where you two are sitting now."

Takato looked around. Hirokazu, Guardromon, and Impmon were there, too, assessing their various injuries, and walking up to them was Kenta, MarineAngemon floating beside him, and Ryou. The oldest Tamer of the bunch had a hard, serious expression on his face.

Still, Takato continued to look around. Where was ChaosDukemon? And, more importantly...

"They're gone," Ryou said abruptly, before anyone else could say a word. "Both of them."

"Gone?" Takato asked, before the possible implications sunk in. His eyes widened and he went to his feet, ignoring the pain. "No... you don't mean...!"

"No, I don't," Ryou said, gazing up at the now-empty sky. "They're alive, but they're gone."

Takato blinked. To say he was confused was an understatement. "But... how?"

"I didn't realize it at first," Ryou said. "But Cyberdramon wasn't attacking him."

"No offense, then what _was_ he doing?" Ruki asked. "I mean, attacking stuff is sort of what he does."

"No. He was..." Ryou scratched his head, then shook in frustration. "Argh, just get yourselves together. I'll explain when we get back to Hypnos. I only want to have to go over this _once._"

"But," Takato said, "where is he, then? If not here..."

"The Digital World," Ryou said, then sighed. "Probably."

Ruki raised an eyebrow. "Probably?"

"Possibly."

-- --

If Cyberdramon thought that he was hurting before, he hadn't even known what pain _was._

But that didn't matter.

He started to pick himself up, finding that he was on the floor of a vast, seemingly never ending desert. It was night wherever he was, but the wasteland was still well lit, for floating high above was a bright green sphere rotating, with beams of red light constantly shooting out to various points below. It was a representation, Cyberdramon knew, of the Real World.

He was in the Digital World.

He was home.

"Excuse me!"

Cyberdramon whipped around, claws at the ready to tear apart anything that dared to attack him.

What he found was a small, child-like Digimon floating a short distance from him. His body seemed to be made of rocks and had big, yellow eyes. "Just what, _what_ do you think you're doing here!?"

Cyberdramon began to speak, and then looked behind the smaller Digimon. Lined up in a surprisingly neat and organized manner was dozens upon dozens of Digimon of varying types and levels. They weren't fighting, and it almost looked like they had been following this smaller Digimon before Cyberdramon landed in front of them. And the way they were organized, the manner in which they were positioned...

It was an army.

Cyberdramon looked back at the floating white Digimon. "Who...?"

"_I_ am Insekimon, General of the great, mighty Mercurimon-sama!" the Digimon boasted proudly. "And _you_ are in the middle of a war zone! Now, now name yourself, or face the consequences!"

Cyberdramon bared his fangs into a sadistic, toothy grin, his claws beginning to shine. "Try me."

**-To Be Continued**

**---**

**Notes: So, that took awhile. My excuse?**

**Well, for one thing, my plans for Factor of X were getting a little too... "busy," lets say. I had too much going on later on in the story and had to streamline it. That took some time.**

**Additionally, trying to incorporate elements of Savers into the Tamers world-setting required me to see more OF Savers. So I had to let that run its course. But! Things are back on track now. **


End file.
